Can we ever expect to be? Will Microsoft continue to renew a copyright on software they are no longer are willing to supply? When will I be able to ask where can I download XP bundled with every sp and update ever released? Are the updates all individually copyrighted so a compilation of them would be illegal anyway?
84 Answers
Aside of copyright taking at least 50 years to expire (usually way longer), using windows XP is strongly discouraged unless you like to be hacked. But to put your quesiton in perspective, even using a pirated windows 95 is still illegal. Chances are microsoft won't care for anything pre windows 2000, but its not always up to microsoft. There are companies who operate on behalf of companies like microsoft, and they only see dollar signs.
So long story short, no. Windows XP is not and will not become free. It would be stupid from Microsoft to do this, because that would promote people to use an operating system where they strongly encourage people not to use it.
7There is a version of Windows XP which Microsoft is providing for "free" (here meaning that you don't have to pay independently for a copy of it). The catch is that you must have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 license that is covered under the program. It is called Windows XP Mode.
It is not a bare-metal version, though, as you must install it as a Virtual PC app (also provided at no cost under the program). You can upgrade this install to the final patch, including the last zero-day patch that Microsoft released after the April 8th, 2014 final end-of-support date. This means it can be used as Windows XP SP3 with all security patches.
This is the only legally "free" version of Windows XP that is available. Any other version either requires its own license, which is not free, or is a pirated/illegal version. Based on prior experience with Microsoft products, we can expect that this version is not allowed for bare-metal installations, and no bare-metal installation version will ever become free, just as there is no legally free version of Windows 3.1, 95, 98, etc, despite the fact that you cannot buy a copy of any of those versions, either.
2I don't think windows xp will ever be free. for Windows 98, 95 even ME! should be free right now. They still are being used and some companies can still have a commercial profit.
4As far i know, microsoft never officially wrote in their "never read end user agreement" as we install each and every product of microsoft that the software is free or will be free in any matter whatsoever. Unlike the free software that we can freely download from their servers, we can read the end user agreement that the software that we use is a free software. So if Microsoft wants to do so, to set free any of their product as freeware software, they have to, once again, rewrite their "never read end user agreement" and write it as a free software. Until then, any microsoft products remain not free. We like to think that now, microsoft is to set free of the non supported software but the official words only says that "ends the support for". Microsoft never actually put their software to "resign" or pension", they just don't support the particular software anymore. So, as the microsoft's end user agreement remain the same then the software remain not free.
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