Microsoft
A technician adjusts a spotlight at the exhibition stand of Microsoft in preparation for the CeBIT computer fair in the northern German town of Hanover March 12, 2007. Reuters/Christian Charisus

Microsoft announced on May 15 that Windows 10 will not be available for free to those users who do not own legitimate licenses to Microsoft’s software, according to reports.

The company is offering upgrade to Windows 10 for free to its genuine Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users, Microsoft said through its blog post. After the users upgrade to Windows 10, they will continue getting Windows innovation and security updates, free of cost until the supported lifetime of that device.

“While our free offer to upgrade to Windows 10 will not apply to Non-Genuine Windows devices, and as we’ve always done, we will continue to offer Windows 10 to customers running devices in a Non-Genuine state,” Terry Myerson from Microsoft said, in the blog post. “In addition, in partnership with some of our valued OEM partners, we are planning very attractive Windows 10 upgrade offers for their customers running one of their older devices in a Non-Genuine state,” explained Terryson.

If Windows realizes that the software is not genuine, it will create a ‘watermark’ on the desktop in order to notify the user that they are running an illegitimate copy of the software, as per the PC World report. In such cases, customers either need to upgrade or return the device to the manufacturer, reports PC World.

Microsoft revealed that it is working to ensure that the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 to Windows 10 will be seamless for users who bought genuine Windows license from the company’s OEM partners, reports NDTV Gadgets.

According to the report on NDTV Gadgets, in March, Microsoft has announced free Windows 10 upgrade for all users of non-genuine Windows 7 and higher OS and in less than two months, the company announces that it will not offer free upgrade to non-genuine users.

Windows 10 will power smartphones, PCs, tablets, Microsoft HoloLens, Xbox One and Surface Hub. In a recent blog post, Microsoft had announced different versions of Windows 10 that include Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 10 Education and Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise.

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