Indeed it can - but until someone like you or I tell our wayward friends and family, whose going to know?
I thought WIN 10 was free, so it harkens back to Tad's comments.
Win10 was free for 1 year from release for people who had windows 7 or 8 licenses. It was seen as much as a "we're sorry for foisting Windows 8 on you" move from MS.