Windows 10 is not actually free - you are paying with your privacy

Windows 10, it seems, is proving a hit with both the public and the technology press after its release last week. After two days, it had been installed on 67 million PCs. Of course, sceptics may argue that this may have simply been a reflection of how much people disliked Windows 8 and the fact that the upgrade was free.

For others, though, it is the very fact that the upgrade is free that has them concerned that Microsoft has adopted a new, "freemium" model for making money from its operating system.

They argue that, while Apple can make its upgrades free because it makes its money from the hardware it sells, Microsoft will have to find some way to make money from doing the same with its software. Given that there are only a few ways of doing this, it seems that Microsoft has taken a shotgun approach and adopted them all.

Free upgrade

Chris Capossela, Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer, has declared that Microsoft's strategy is to "acquire, engage, enlist and monetise". In other words, get people using the platform and then sell them other things like apps from the Microsoft App Store.

The trouble is, that isn't the only strategy that Microsoft is taking. Microsoft is employing a unique "advertising ID" that is assigned to a user when Windows 10 is installed. This is used to target personalised ads at the user.

These ads will show up whilst using the web, and even in games that have been downloaded from the Microsoft App Store. In fact, the game where this grabbed most attention was Microsoft's Solitaire, where users are shown video ads unless they are prepared to pay a US$9.99 a year subscription fee.

The advertising ID, along with a range of information about the user, can be used to target ads. The information that Microsoft will useincludes:

[…] current location, search query, or the content you are viewing. […] likely interests or other information that we learn about you over time using demographic data, search queries, interests and favorites, usage data, and location data.

It was not that long ago that Microsoft attacked Google for doing exactly this to its customers.

What Microsoft is prepared to share, though, doesn't stop at the data it uses for advertising. Although it maintains that it won't use personal communications, emails, photos, videos and files for advertising, it can and will share this information with third parties for a range of other reasons.