This sounds like a subscription based service to me
Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
111–120 of 323 posts
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
It'll inure them to the cost, but it won't make it any cheaper.
On the other hand you could see it as simply spreading out the changes you would get from major updates every few years. Incremental changes to the OS may only impose a small cognitive burden of adapting at any given time instead of presenting a seemingly insurmountable obstacle all at once. Frog and a boiling pot of water.
Frogs try to jump out of boiling water. I understand you mean it metaphorically, but like the expression "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" it has no scientific basis.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#113I 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…
Six months ago I signed up for a family edition of Office 365, and I don't blink at the $99/year subscription fee. Everyone gets a terabyte of OneDrive cloud service, and the latest Office 365 applications if they want them. I did install the applications in my MacBook Air, but on my Ubuntu laptop and my Windows 8.1 laptop I just use the web versions of Word, OneNote, etc. Anyway a good deal.
If Microsoft charges a small charge for Windows updates, which I don't think they will, I probably won't mind.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#114This was news around January, I thought. Why are all the tech sites playing this up now? I feel like i could reply to half the top level posts with this link: http://blogs.windows.com/business/2015/01/30/windows-10-for-... >January 30, 2015 > this is much more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current via Windows Update for the supported lifetime of…
> This was news around January, I thought. Why are all the tech sites playing this up now? It's Sunday and it finally got picked up. It happens. I submitted it a while back and its just when people see it.
I remember this "news" being on the front page of HN a few times already. The change is radical enough that we want to talk about it over and over again.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you like better in Windows 7 than 8.1? Seriously, I have been a long time OS X and Linux user, and 8.1 has won me back to the Microsoft fold. I still use Linux and OSX, but WIndows 8.1 is now something I frequently use. I was not impressed by Windows 7. So, serious question, what do you like better about Windows 7.
> So, serious question, what do you like better about Windows 7. No Metro crap jumping all over you. And that's why I likely will migrate over to Linux once MS stops Win7 support.
You don't have to use any Metro apps if you don't want to, and 10 brings back the start menu. If that's still to "Metro" for you you can install something like Classic Start.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#116You should rename software before it reaches a double digit version. Otherwise it's too stale.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#117Funny, isn't that exactly the same thing Apple does?
The rolling/incremental release is something that Apple does, but it's not like Apple is the only company doing it. Several Linux distros follow the same release model, and other software (not just OSes) does it too - MATLAB switched to this style model years ago, and it is nice at work to have something that is never more than 6 months out of date. The only downside is that you have to really plan out deprecating fe…
We dropped MATLAB because the communal version refuses to work without internet connection (standard in the field) and we cannot afford a licence for all field laptops, where they will be used very little (but still to do things that need to be done).
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#118The 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…
I'm curious as to how much revenue/profit Microsoft still makes from the desktop line of Windows. Would setting desktop Windows free really hurt revenues at Microsoft that much? I'm not denying that each release of Windows requires engineering effort. I figured most of Microsoft's profits come from software and services running on-top Windows, so SQL Server, Office, etc... Perhaps still charge for Windows Server, but…
I'd have thought that Microsoft still sells a monumental pile of Desktop licenses to business because a) they've got the money b) they don't want to risk being caught without legal licenses.
In fact I've felt that up until around the last 5 years Windows was primarily focused on business users and consumers were just a happy bonus because what else were they going to run?
So I could see them giving away a version that can't join a domain (no use to business) for consumers, but I'd be very surprised if they did the same for business customers.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#119I 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…
Most consumers will never tolerate a montly fee to use their OS.
Re: Microsoft to stop producing Windows versions
#120The 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…
Your monthly subscription payments will come in the form of monthly Azure payments. People will accept that. This isn't 1996 anymore. People don't buy desktops, and laptops will soon be obsolete too. When your phone has a processor powerful enough to do all the work a consumer could ever want, there will be 3 main markets. Mobile, Server, and Gaming. Now they probably could keep charging for the OS for the gaming PC's, but servers and mobile are moving in directions other then Windows. Plus I think a lot of gamers were stealing windows anyways... so doesn't make sense to concentrate on that market.
I think Microsoft is really spot on here.