Windows 10 Free Upgrade?

[Carl the Llama]

So apparently if you have Windows 7 or 8 you can get a free upgrade to Windows 10, has anyone taken the plunge yet? What are your thoughts if you have? How compatible is it with games?

[Pike]

It's not out yet as far as I know. You can just "reserve" your upgrade.

Moving this to Cid's Workshop :)

[CimminyCricket]

It's not out yet, but I got to play with the prerelease for developers/enthusiasts and it isn't really all that bad. I will have to see about the completed version as to whether or not I'll actually use it full time. :\

[Colonel Angus]

It's not out until July 29th.

I'm sure a lot of these questions will be answered by then, but I would imagine that anything 8/8.1 would definitely be compatible. Since W7 users are offered the free upgrade, I would think W7 games/programs would be compatible w/ W10.

[Pumpkin]

My computer is giving me a little icon for it but I dunno. It's been having so many problems lately and it's finally calmed down (although not entirely) and I'm afraid to touch anything or do anything with it

[Freya]

I'm going to see how it functions with things before I take the plunge but I will probably upgrade it eventually. I think it's for the first year it's free.

[Shorty]

Also signed up for it. I hope it's alright.

[Bolivar]

I know some people messing around with the pre-release and say it's great. Just don't make it your only OS on your primary PC.

Upgrading to Windows 10 is non-negotiable for any PC gamer, as you'll need it for DirectX 12. It's going to bring monumental performance gains on so many fronts it's not even funny.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I am using it on my laptop at the moment and it is pretty decent, I have to say! :D

A bit of lag when opening start menu but that has gotten better recently!

[Loony BoB]

What's it like for backwards compatibility, gaming-wise?

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I have no idea since my laptop isn't really up to par with gaming though I have had heard good things.

[Flying Mullet]

Microsoft is offering a free upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and 8.x within the first year of the release of Windows 10. You'll have plenty of time to take advantage of the free upgrade so no need to rush. I plan on waiting a while for the inevitable onslaught of bugs present with the launch release to be fixed before I upgrade.

[escobert]

wtf happened to 9?

[Freya]

They've never said. Someone said cause some older apps have code that includes "windows 9" to cover the 90's versions. Others say cause it was too much like 8 and people hated it so they scrapped it and went to 10. Others say cause 9 is unlucky in japan and they want a heavy japanese presence with it or something.

idk. No one knows!

[Colonel Angus]

4 is unlucky in Japan because their word for 4 is the same as their word for death.

IDK about 9.

I think they skipped 9, because they already did one after 8 (calling it 8.1 aka 8.lame) so that would've been the "9th" one. I also think they went w/ 10, so the upgrade for 10 will be Windows 10-2. Basically, that'll be Windows 10 w/ more fanservice.

[Mirage]

I know some people messing around with the pre-release and say it's great. Just don't make it your only OS on your primary PC.

Upgrading to Windows 10 is non-negotiable for any PC gamer, as you'll need it for DirectX 12. It's going to bring monumental performance gains on so many fronts it's not even funny.

For new games with new video cards, sure.

Wouldn't be surprised if someone found a way to use dx12 on win8 anyway.


4 is unlucky in Japan because their word for 4 is the same as their word for death.

IDK about 9.

I think they skipped 9, because they already did one after 8 (calling it 8.1 aka 8.lame) so that would've been the "9th" one. I also think they went w/ 10, so the upgrade for 10 will be Windows 10-2. Basically, that'll be Windows 10 w/ more fanservice.

What's lame about 8.1?
There's something called minor and major versions

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I don't know a lot about it as of yet. My interest is piqued because I want to play Final Fantasy Agito when it comes west.

[Colonel Angus]

4 is unlucky in Japan because their word for 4 is the same as their word for death.

IDK about 9.

I think they skipped 9, because they already did one after 8 (calling it 8.1 aka 8.lame) so that would've been the "9th" one. I also think they went w/ 10, so the upgrade for 10 will be Windows 10-2. Basically, that'll be Windows 10 w/ more fanservice.

What's lame about 8.1?
There's something called minor and major versions
Eh, I'm just not a big fan of it.

[NeoCracker]

Every other Windows OS has been good, the others have been bad.

XP? Good.
Vista? Bad.
7? Good.
8? Bad.

9 Was suppose to be a good one, but Microsoft decided we shouldn't have nice things, so they skipped it.

[DMKA]

wtf happened to 9?
There's a shady claim by alledged Microsoft employees, wink wink (Microsoft has not officially confirmed it) that they skipped it for coding reasons, because of how most versions of windows were programmed to check for previous versions of windows starting with "9", such as 95 and 98.

There's also a really silly theory that it's because the number 9 is considered extremely unlucky in Japan.

Or maybe Microsoft just felt "Windows 10" would be more marketable? Who knows. It's not like they've been following any coherent numbering system since 3.1. Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1. Yeah. Not much rhyme or reason to it.

I've already signed up because unfortunately PC gaming is being forced to Windows 10 since DX12 won't be available for anything earlier. Here's hoping it's not broken or riddled with compatibly issues like Windows Vista and Windows 8 were when they came out.

[escobert]

I just figured it was because they had to release 8.1 which they intended to be 9 but everyone had a hissy fit about 8.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Actually there is a thing in Japan about '9'. Nine is pronounced "ku" which is a homophone for agony/torture...So it is viewed as unlucky.

Unrelated note, I know...

[Chibi Youkai]

I reserved my copy of it because, worst comes to worst, I have a retail version of 7 that can be used to downgrade if it turns out to be crappy. And the vast majority of the reviews that have been coming out say that 10 is actually a decent version of Windows. That is surprisingly optimistic, as far as windows reviews generally go.

The only concern is if it is going to be a strait upgrade. In that I mean, I run win7 professional, so hopefully the upgrade will be to the professional equivalent. They don't make that very clear in their reservation blurb, and I've been too lazy to look it up any further.

[Lawr]

Well if you really want to get technical, they didn't skip just 9, they skipped "7" and "8" too. I think they decided to call this one 10 so we could all understand that they wanna make this one a big deal. And it is!

Also be aware that if you have a Windows 7 computer or 8.X and decide to upgrade, you are going to miss out on some (trivial) features that people who get a vanilla Win10 computer will have. I would do more research when it's actually released to confirm everything before switching. But I think the biggest one that struck me was that you might not being able to turn off those smurfing automatic updates* if you upgraded your computer, versus buying it brand new.

My use of smurfing here is attached to the word "automatic," and not the updates themselves. :aimkiss:


Edit


wtf happened to 9?
There's a shady claim by alledged Microsoft employees, wink wink (Microsoft has not officially confirmed it) that they skipped it for coding reasons, because of how most versions of windows were programmed to check for previous versions of windows starting with "9", such as 95 and 98.

This might be true.


Or maybe Microsoft just felt "Windows 10" would be more marketable? Who knows. It's not like they've been following any coherent numbering system since 3.1. Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1. Yeah. Not much rhyme or reason to it.

They actually have been following a coherent numbering system. As a run of the mill consumer though, you just don't know about it!