Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2019 April 21

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April 21

Microsoft policies

Microsoft allows legally downloading an ISO file and installing Windows 10 without a license. You get a minor watermark about it not being licensed, among some other restrictions, however, you get the OS running without paying a dime.

Has Microsoft got soft on piracy? Is Microsoft using other means (like better contracts with manufacturers for OEM licenses) to get people to chip in for their OS? Are they concentrating more on companies, and leaving individual users alone? May it be that they do not fear other OSs anymore (sorry Linux evangelists)? --Doroletho (talk) 01:03, 21 April 2019 (UTC)

Got a link? There's been rumours for a year or two that the MS business model going forward didn't include tight licensing for Windows. In general they take the "window tax" on nearly every commercially produced PC, the question is: is it worth their while chasing a few hobbyists and developing country pirates. Given that MS are more likely to make money from you through applications, apps and forcing you into their environment perhaps giving away Windows to geeks is akin to handing sweeties to kids. As regards fear: if you fear the opposition you remove barriers to adoption, if you don't fear them you can stick any barrier you want and simply tell people to pay up, there's no choice. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 14:57, 21 April 2019 (UTC)

There's this howtogeek from 2017 or another minor site. --Doroletho (talk) 00:08, 23 April 2019 (UTC)

I think they make enough money selling you SaaS like Office 365 and apps that used to be free like Minesweeper, and showing you ads and selling your data to advertisers, that pirates actually become a revenue source. 93.136.1.73 (talk) 04:21, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the links, I may stick a copy in a VM for support, debug and porting purposes. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 07:38, 25 April 2019 (UTC)