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Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

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Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#71

Post by rossng »

vacri wrote: post #59
rossng wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there will be some problems, but I don't think it will be that bad. The web has coped perfectly fine with continuously-updated browsers. A significant proportion of 'change management' is pointless, box-ticking bureaucracy and achieves nothing. Just look at any large company's mostly semi-broken IT systems! Critical infrastructure probably shouldn't be running on desktop Windows anyway, so it's not going to a…

> if Bob in Marketing's copy of Microsoft Word stops working for a day or two while Microsoft patches something Why would such a problem only hit one user, in a place that rolls out an SOE?

Okay, that was a bad example. It's likely to be small, obscure features that break (assuming that major stuff will be caught by good automated testing). Not many people will rely on that specific functionality, so not many people will be affected.

Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#73

Post by comex »

Apple's move a few years ago towards yearly OS releases has drawn a lot of flak on HN for allegedly decreasing software quality. I don't know to what extent this is an inevitable result of the cadence versus simply Apple not having a good process at present (and to what extent the effect is mere confirmation bias...), but I wonder if people will start saying the same about Microsoft.

Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#74

Post by EGreg »

So a bit like Chromebook's constantly updating Chrome.

If people can opt out of automatic updates, the only difference I see here is the update mechanism and its default setting. Apple has to change 1 thing on its iOS updates to do the same.

Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#76

Post by beloch »

The obvious question is, how are we going to pay for this?

With no periodic releases of new versions, it seems that Windows 10 will either be a subscription based service or, in all likelihood, a collection of subscription based services and extra features with a free, but spartan, core.

It's an interesting move, but I suspect MS is severely underestimating the backlash that will exist against monthly OS subscription payments.

Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#77

Post by davidgerard »

ThinkBeat wrote: post #70

I can see this in the consumer space perhaps. They would need a lot of marketing to get people to pay up for a monthly / yearly subscription though. I figure that is how they will make money. I can see consumers being annoyed have to pay every month to use the computer now. With the current versioned releases the consumer has a choice whether to pay for the upgrade or not. In the enterprise space I dont see how this…

> I can see consumers being annoyed have to pay every month to use the computer now. With the current versioned releases the consumer has a choice whether to pay for the upgrade or not.

Yeah, I'm wondering if Canonical's marketing department is readying the champagne.

Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#78

Post by everyone »

I tried windows 8.1 for a while on my gaming desktop pc. Aside from the awful metro garbage thrown on top of the OS (which can be removed / turned off) It was quite unstable, all my games would randomly crash, even the mouse exhibited weird behaviour and bugs. I went back to 7, everything is fine now. I get the impression windows 10 will be more of the same, this is just pushing me more and more towards using linux all the time, now that linux gaming is becoming more and more viable also. Also MS are starting to act like apple, intentionally crippling their software. For example to develop windows store apps, you need windows 8 or higher, you cant just download the sdk for windows 7 even though it has the same kernel as 8 and is essentially the same OS. Also the development process for windows store is horrible and unnecessarily complicated (compared to say android development which is very developer friendly). Also in order to force people to move to windows 8 MS have made some optimisations to directx that they have not released for 7 even though once again there is absolutely nothing preventing it except for their attempt to manipulate their users.

Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions

#80

Post by teacup50 »

the8472 wrote: post #69
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem isn't that Bob in Marketing's box doesn't work for a few days. It's that Bob (along with 90% of everyone over 25) hates user interface changes and works slower the first two-three months after a change. If MS starts throwing changes at him every 6 months that's a 15-20% decrease in Bob's productivity.

Maybe a continuous flow of changes will ingrain the process of adapting to changes into them a little more.

It'll inure them to the cost, but it won't make it any cheaper.
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