Microsoft has been battling piracy since the day that it purchased DOS and started marketing it. So Windows 10 should be no different right? Wrong. Microsoft could be give away Windows 10 as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 7 and Windows 8 (Even if they are running pirate versions) sounds crazy right, well I believe Microsoft should have started doing this back when Windows 7 came out because it is crazy to think that anyone would go out and purchase an operating system these days when Linux is so darn good right now, and the fact the most time that is spent on a computer now is in the Web Browser which is no long operating system dependent (Chrome , Firefox).
According to BSA, The Software Alliance some 74% of software in China is pirated copies, so it makes sense to give the thing away, especially given the Chinese Government it developing its own operating.
I think this will work for Microsoft, but I guess only time will tell.