New MS Windows 10 Computer Trade-in Program

Sounds too good to be true...

So you have to spend more than $600.00 and it has to come from the Microsoft Store. I'll pass. 

Two hundred bucks wouldn't come close to what I'd want for a trade-up.   All of my machines are worth far more than that... given the high-end cases and what went into them.  Besides, why would a want a pre-built machine with butt ugly Win 10 on it?  Both my high-end machines would run rings around anything MS would put out... and I'm happy with Win 8.1, anyhow.

Nope, I'm with you on this one, Uvah... I'll pass.

Both my laptops are 17" screens and better than what Microsoft is offering. I run 8.1 on one and the other has already been upgraded to Windows 10. Pass.

Not only that, but apparently the item you purchase must be a laptop. Major suckage, Microsoft! 

They all are laptops, despite what was quoted from the source article...What laptop or pc were you planning to get...if you bother to check the links I supplied, you'd see a wide range of devices.

And, from that list price, deduct $200. That's a bad deal? Just how?

My point is you 'have' to buy it from MS, you can't buy the machine from anyone else. Why pay $600.00 if I can get it for, say, $400.00. There's my $200.00 right there. The one I have now only cost me $340.00. Then you have to ship your old one to MS, pay shipping and handling 'cause MS isn't gonna pay it. Why go through the hassle if I don't have to?

I think you'll find you can't...but I'd be happy to see where you can get one of the ones on the Qualifying devices link for $400...

For mine, this is not a good deal unless you're in the market for a new laptop and your old one is pretty crappy anyway.  200 bucks on some of those qualifying machines doesn't seem adequate, given the original purchase prices.... and if they are only a few short months old, 200 bucks isn't a fair offer.  For example, my HP 2-in-1, which is less than 12 months old, retails for AUD$1300, and with most of those machines on offer it would be a significant downgrade for me.  And then there's the cost of sending the old one back to MS... who'd likely refurbish the majority and sell them at a profit.

Sorry, but I feel there is a lot more in this for MS than there is for [potential] customers.   It's more about Windows 10 and grabbing 'market share' than doing anyone a favour, so no thanks, it's not for me... and yeah, the same deal will be introduced here in OZ in the next few weeks, so I'm told.

Still, good thing we got Doc to inform us about new things. -This might suit some people, who knows

-Thanx Seth

You're welcome, Andy.

Mark, obviously if your computer is relatively new, the deal isn't for you and you can update via MS's W10 free upgrade path...

If you have a an older computer, which for whatever reason can't be upgraded or if you figure whatever rig you have wouldn't bring more on the open market then the deal would be worth consideration...

If you have a relatively new rig and you figure you're good until W7 expires, then it isn't a good deal. Clearly, people should weigh it individually.

My purpose in posting this was simply to make folks aware of the deal, not to tell them to run out and grab it.

From the OP:

Microsoft must be getting desperate that Windows 10 market share didn't remotely reach their projections even despite their bullying tactics, i.e.; preventing users from easily opting out of upgrading to Windows 10 by repeatedly surfacing kb3035583 on Windows Update even though users have selected to uninstall and hide it, and this week getting to the point of putting a *pre-selected* (by mistake, according to them yeah, right, we believe you) 'Windows 10 Upgrade' hidden in the 'Optional Updates' queue.

This is just evil! How many users were forced to upgrade to Windows 10 because of this without wanting to?!

Microsoft has clearly shown what they are trying to do by now, first with Windows 8 + Metro/Windows RT and now with this 'Windows 10 for free' stunt they want to shove down our throats whether we like it or not.

This is not about a unified OS experience, except where that is a by-product of what MS is really trying to accomplish here, but about trapping users into a 'walled garden' so MS can do as it pleases. With Windows 8 and Metro MS tried to change Windows into a closed OS, a 'walled garden', one where developers could only sell their wares through the Microsoft store (with MS profiting 30% from the sale of every application without having done anything to deserve it), and with MS having the final say on what was approved and not. But because that required turning Windows into non-Windows (Windows RT) it failed.

So now they are trying a different approach with Windows 10, but make no mistake, their intention is still the same (i.e.; evil). Once everyone is trapped in Windows 10, they can, for instance, change Windows into a 'service' which you then have to pay for annually or lose access to your PC.

In my opinion the lunatics have taken over the asylum! This is pure madness.

This was one of seven optional updates on my machine. I do not have auto updates enabled. I did the regular security updates but only after highlighting each one and clicking on more information. That's how I found both the compatibility update for Win 10 and the get Win 10 app. Both remain in the optional que and both are hidden. I wanted to delete them but I don't think it can be done. There will be no Win 10 on this machine. Like I said in a previous post...when I'm ready I'll shop around and choose the machine I want and it sure as hell won't come from MS.   

kb3035583 comes up on my machine on every update and it already has a check on it.  I have to uncheck it.  I figure at 68 I'll stick with W7 as they first have to unsupport vista before they get to W7.  Guess then I'll have to decide on what to do but by then I'll be way into my 70's.

I saw the update to win10 in the 'other queue.  I have stopped all win 7 upgrades because i don't want Win10 (right now).  Until some real solid data comes out about the end user agreements, AND how future upgrades of win 10 / payments to MS is revealed.  It all seems way too invasive and future vague to me.  My sleezeware alert keeps going off.  BTW, I too really appreciate Seth keeping us informed.  Rock on!

While I find that the dl W10 thing might or might not be intentional (statistics/marketing, etc.), my purpose here was not to encourage W10 sales, but to help folks to whom the $200 might make a real difference in choosing to invest in a new machine...the W10 involuntary dl thing isn't to my liking, and although motives can be found for doing it 'on purpose', it could be a glitch...after all, we're talking about a Windows Update thing, and that can indeed be problematic on several levels.

I do appreciate it Doc despite my sometimes ornery attitude. I think we'd still be making stone tools without your input. 

Doc don't stop posting things you feel may be of interest to others. I agree with Ross the your post are appreciated even if one doesn't interest or effect me. I just read it and let it go. Doesn't mean I didn't get some knowledge from it.

I don't use win 10 and have no intentions of using it. Some like it and some don't. You should know by now anything posted about win 10 always goes into a debate. Find more post you think may be helpful go and make a thread. If it runs wild let it go and don't worry about it.

We know, Seth!

Apologies if I took advantage of your informative post to rant against Microsoft and Windows 10, none of that was directed at you, of course!

It's just that I find it hard to believe how Microsoft is doing all this and still (at least for now) apparently getting away with it. Yeah, it's their OS, but it's our computers too. At the very least *I* decide what runs on them, not Microsoft!

Some of the comments here are something else.

Windows 10 market share is actually doing quite well, even despite the nonsense that it's "spying" on you, stealing your personal data and somehow going to lock you out of your PC.

Microsoft has retails store and are offering a promotion to get rid of your device and get a new one. Is it a great deal? I don't know, but it might help someone get a new device. If not, no big deal. Just about every big electronics retail store does some type trade-in promos. 

The trade in deal is a solid opportunity for some people.  Lap tops are relatively inexpensive right now... good time to trade up with a MS rebate to sweeten the deal - good for some folks. 

Nonsense? The notion that the NSA was spying on normal people was also deemed complete nonsense and the realm of tin foil monkeys... right until Edward Snowden blew the whistle, of course. I don't know, I was never one for conspiracy theories, but I do see the danger here.

Some are just too blind to see or prefer not to notice.

The tools are already there, together with users who seem to be letting a private company transfer *undisclosed* data from their own *Personal* Computers in a completely unregulated fashion. Personal as those being computers that have their pictures, home made movies, documents, browsing history, love letters, divorce papers, etc, etc... If you don't see a problem with that, I don't know... Eventually someone is going to fall to the temptation of using that same data.

Microsoft is also already pushing ads into their Start Menu, disguised as 'suggestions', of course.

Could you imagine just a couple of years ago that such a think would actually happen? Microsoft's flagship OS becoming adware?! Microsoft itself has already admitted that it is going to sell your data to 3rd parties. Not if, but when, if it's not happening already.

As for locking people out of their PC, come on, it's obvious what Microsoft is aiming for here. They want to sell Windows as a service, as software rental, so the money keeps flowing in every month or year or whatever. And what happens if you don't pay the rent? I don't know how it is in your part of the world, but in mine you get evicted out of the house you're living in.

That's why Windows 10 is, according to Microsoft itself, the last Windows version ever. There will be no Windows 11, just a continuous stream of upgrades. And you think those will be free too, that Microsoft will just turn their back on the revenue they made selling new Windows versions? I don't think anybody is that naive. 

As for market share, according to my own data, Windows 10 is now on almost 30% of all Windows computers, with 47% of users still on Windows 7 and about 18% on Windows 8.x. Not too bad... until you remember Microsoft is actually giving Windows 10 away for 'free' at the click of a button. And even though the percentage is very slowly climbing, it kind of stalled once it reached 25% in the first couple of months.

Thing is, Doc, my complaint was never about the post, just that MS isn't being up front with its intentions.... and hasn't been for quite some time, particularly when it comes to the OS that is Win 10.  I have to agree with Jorge, Win 10 is an attempt at creating a walled garden with fewer and fewer personal options being made available to users trapped in its 'ecosystem'.   The fact that Win 10 has more prying abilities than any other OS in history - some that can not be turned off or disabled - is more than enough reason to steer well clear of it.... not to mention the fechen ads.  MS is seeking to exercise too much power and control over its users with this OS, and that's not a dance I will be having with them.

As for that pesky 'Upgrade' icon in the systray, there it is again, even after I disposed of it hid the update 4 times... disabling automatic updates  Thing is, MS keeps reissuing it to machines that haven't upgraded thus far, and probably will until it finds a crack to sneak the cursed OS through.  The 'upgrade' won't take to my HP 2-in-1, however... not that I care.  According to the upgrade process, my product key is invalid.... despite being registered, activated and authenticated by MS itself.  I will again delete the systray icon and uncheck/hide the relevant update, but I'll bet pounds to a pinch of shit [as my dear old grandmother used to say] it'll be back there in a week or so... WITHOUT my consent.

Put simply, I don't want Windows 10.... on any of my machines.  I did prepare a machine for it, just to see what the fuss was about, but I've decided not to go that way, opting instead to use it as a Linux machine to check out Ubuntu and other distros

In my humble opinion Windows 10 is going the way of the biggest 'ransomware' in history. You don't pay...you don't play. In what way is that fair to people who pay good money for a machine that they won't be able to use because the rent wasn't paid? If I buy a computer that machine and all the pre-installed software belongs to me, no one else. I can keep what I want and 86 the rest (bloatware). No one has the right to dictate what I can and cannot do with something that belongs to me. MS is going the way of Uncle Sam, i.e., legalized extortion.

Ok...rant over...again.

Windows 10 upgrades free upgrades are only for the first year or so. After that they will be a paid upgrade, and there is no way they will suddenly force people to pay to use their OS if you already have it on your PC.

The PR backlash alone would dictate that, among many other things.

"This is more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no cost."