Gabe Aul confirms the upgrade will be offered free of charge

May 11, 2015 09:38 GMT  ·  By

Gabriel Aul, head of the Windows Insider program, has just confirmed that users who installed Windows 10 preview will be allowed to upgrade to Windows 10 RTM completely free of charge when the new operating system becomes available later this year.

This means that everyone running a technical preview version of Windows 10 on their PCs can install the RTM build too without paying a single cent.

But while this sounds like a godsend for everyone, there must be a catch somewhere as it’s hard to believe that Microsoft would actually offer its new operating system free of charge with a permanent license to those who installed the preview.

One of the biggest problems with such a promo is the fact that many would be tempted to abuse and install the preview just to benefit from the free upgrade offer. So if Microsoft indeed plans to reward its insiders with a free license for Windows 10 RTM, the company must find a way to stop those who are trying to get the new OS without actually contributing to its development from doing so.

RTM expected for the summer

Microsoft might actually allow preview users to install RTM free of charge but could then require a license to activate the operating system, so they would be able to run it on their computers for a limited time.

A Windows 7 or 8.1 key would help in this case because Windows 10 will be offered free of charge to those coming from these two OS versions, but again, what’s going to happen with users whose computers came with pre-installed copies of the software?

Obviously, there’s more to discuss here, and there’s no doubt that there are plenty of details that Microsoft has to think about before offering the new OS free of charge to insiders, so we’ve asked the company for a word on this and will come back to you with more info when we get it.