And they charge you to use this?
But yes, a mainstream Windows user pays for a Windows license, either through a direct license purchase, or through the baked in price of a machine.
Most users did not pay to upgrade machines from 7/8/8.1 to 10, but that was a bargain with the devil, as it made it easier on the decision-makers at Microsoft to find other ways to make money off of Windows 10 users.
https://winaero.com/how-to-disable-telemetry-and-data-collec...
It probably won't be long before the Windows 11 version is here.
Bargain with the devil? Most users didn't pay to upgrade machines from 7/8 to 10 because they had nothing to gain from the upgrade. You only bargain to get things that you want.
Look at the number of people who upgraded from 7 to 8.
It's not surprising they're trying to add adverts. Sucks though.
If you paid 30 bucks you paid for a stolen or otherwise illegally sold license.
> You've been able to upgrade for free for at least 10 years
Actually it's 6 years. There were no free upgrades before Windows 10 as far as I'm aware.
Citation needed.
https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/get-windows-10-free-...
> Now, let's address the elephant in the room. While we can't vouch for all of them, websites selling lower-priced Windows keys are likely selling legitimate codes. One popular site, Kinguin, has 37 merchants worldwide selling Windows keys. Mark Jordan, Kinguin’s VP of communications, told Tom's Hardware in 2019 that Kinguin's merchants acquire the codes from wholesalers who have surplus copies of Windows they don't need.
> "It's not a gray market. It would be like buying Adidas or Puma or Nike from a discounter, from TJ Maxx," Jordan said. "There are no legal issues with buying it from us. It's just another marketplace."
> According to Jordan, Kinguin's merchants have sold “several hundred thousand” keys and are not one-time sellers posting listings for codes they don’t want. As part of its fraud protection, a Kinguin employee randomly buys a key “every now and then” to make sure they’re legitimate, he said. Jordan added that it’s rare for a customer to get a key that’s been resold, but if they did, customer support would help them get a new one for free.
Windows 7 was released in 2009. If you bought it then you've had free upgrades for 12 years.