Its increasingly being integrated into Windows, as its now owned by Microsoft, so I guess its as free as that to get the integrated version you buy windows. However because it has versions running on other platforms and stand alone desktop versions if it was not free I think there would be a major outcry now.
I do feel however that its sound quality is worse than it was. It keeps kind of ducking the volume at crucial times. many other systems seem to do a better job these days, but I'm not really into this for any other reason than just to see is it works.
Brian

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