The news about Microsoft offering free Windows 10 updates even to pirated copies of Windows quickly spread out. This however sounded too good to be true and well, Microsoft has now come out to clarify the matter.

"We have always been committed to ensuring that customers have the best Windows experience possible. With Windows 10, although non-Genuine PCs may be able to upgrade to Windows 10, the upgrade will not change the genuine state of the license. Non-Genuine Windows is not published by Microsoft. It is not properly licensed, or supported by Microsoft or a trusted partner. If a device was considered non-genuine or mis-licensed prior to the upgrade, that device will continue to be considered non-genuine or mis-licensed after the upgrade."

According to their statement, the company will indeed stay true about the free update even to pirated copies of Windows but the catch is that even if the non-genuine version of Windows is upgraded to Windows 10, Microsoft will still be regarding that system as a non-genuine version of Windows.

This seems fair enough for users who actually bought the license and they'll be able to differentiate themselves from others who upgraded from non-genuine copies of Windows. But hey, this update isn't groundbreaking by any means, everyone will still get their free update to Windows 10 and Microsoft did not state that pirated copies of Windows will be stripped off any features.

So, this seems to be the direction Microsoft is after. All they want is provide the incentive for all users to upgrade to Windows 10.

Original story

SOURCE: Windows Central