14 DAY TRIAL // The free Windows 10 upgrade offer ended on July 29, but you can still get the new operating system completely free of charge by downloading the version aimed at users with assistive technologies, even if you don’t use any.
This is because Microsoft isn’t restricting this offer to certain tech and doesn’t make any verification in this regard, so pretty much anyone can download Windows 10 without paying using this trick.
Since this isn’t exactly fair play, and users can abuse this method to get the new operating system free of charge, Microsoft is planning to block it in the coming weeks and make it available only with Microsoft support.
Users already abusing this method
The moderator of the Windows 10 subreddit, Swaggy_McSwagSwag, says he’s been in touch with Microsoft over this method of getting the new operating system and claims that the company will remove the page to make the upgrade exclusively available through support services.
“As it stands, that method of upgrading is based on an honour rule. However, having spoken with MS earlier today, they inform me that within the next couple of weeks that webpage and tool will be removed and instead require you to contact MS support directly to upgrade this way,” he explains.
Basically, keeping Windows 10 free for users with disabilities was a decision that Microsoft made because the operating system might not be fully compatible with assistive tech, so some people need to delay the upgrade until support is being offered.
But in the last few days, however, the number of users who have actually tried to upgrade free of charge using the assistive tech trick has exploded. And what’s more, a Microsoft Disability Answer Desk tech engineer says that the number of people calling for support for this version has increased significantly just because users need help to download Windows 10, even if no assistive tech is employed.
Certainly, Microsoft is making the right move here, but for the moment, there’s no specific info on when this is projected to happen, but more details should be provided in the coming weeks.