4 ms·

I'm just waiting for the day when Microsoft moves on to subscription based service. Basically I'm assuming that they want their win10 user base high enough and

I'm just waiting for the day when Microsoft moves on to subscription based service. Basically I'm assuming that they want their win10 user base high enough and then one day they say "we changed our licensing policy to subscription based" and then everyone has no choice but to pay $20 or whatever every month or be locked out from their machines. There's probably some small print in the win10 EULA that conveniently allows them to move onto this model under the ruse of "rolling releases"

B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
Probably just for the business users. "Less evil than Oracle! And cheaper!" Heady days.
spriggan3 10y ago
> I'm just waiting for the day when Microsoft moves on to subscription based service. You're probably right, it's probably the future of Windows. Adobe moved to a subscription based service, users hated it yet numbers don't lie, Adobe made tons of money with that move.
daveguy 10y ago
I expect they won't do that until Win10 is an established rolling release OS. I also expect they will wait until after Windows 7 is no longer supported (2020) and Win10 has over 50% share. Also, I bet it will be rolled into Office365 subscription. People who have Office365 get recommended and security updates for Win10 for FREE! Such a good deal! You get office, and 1TB online storage for just $10/month! If they can convert 50% of Win10 users (.625/1.25 billion) to subscription that's $6.25 billion / month or $75 billion / year. Their yearly revenue for 2015 was $93.6 billion. With a billion people (their stated goal for Win10) on a subscription model for $12/mo that is +50% yearly revenue -- enormous growth for such a large company. I do not doubt that is the end goal. EDIT: "current count" of 1.25 billion windows machines was an estimate by business insider from 2011.
- cm2187 10y ago
  I understand the reason the upgrade is free is to rather move to an ad supported service.
  - tehmaco 10y ago
    For now, yes. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a "Windows Premium Edition" that's subscription based to remove the ads in the next few years. They can test the water with that, then start adding exclusive features to the paid version over time.
    - cm2187 10y ago
      I agree. But I would expect Windows Pro to be that edition. The "pro" doesn't stand for much right now.

B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago

Probably just for the business users. "Less evil than Oracle! And cheaper!" Heady days.

spriggan3 10y ago

> I'm just waiting for the day when Microsoft moves on to subscription based service. You're probably right, it's probably the future of Windows. Adobe moved to a subscription based service, users hated it yet numbers don't lie, Adobe made tons of money with that move.

daveguy 10y ago

I expect they won't do that until Win10 is an established rolling release OS. I also expect they will wait until after Windows 7 is no longer supported (2020) and Win10 has over 50% share. Also, I bet it will be rolled into Office365 subscription. People who have Office365 get recommended and security updates for Win10 for FREE! Such a good deal! You get office, and 1TB online storage for just $10/month! If they can convert 50% of Win10 users (.625/1.25 billion) to subscription that's $6.25 billion / month or $75 billion / year. Their yearly revenue for 2015 was $93.6 billion. With a billion people (their stated goal for Win10) on a subscription model for $12/mo that is +50% yearly revenue -- enormous growth for such a large company. I do not doubt that is the end goal. EDIT: "current count" of 1.25 billion windows machines was an estimate by business insider from 2011.

cm2187 10y ago
I understand the reason the upgrade is free is to rather move to an ad supported service.
- tehmaco 10y ago
  For now, yes. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a "Windows Premium Edition" that's subscription based to remove the ads in the next few years. They can test the water with that, then start adding exclusive features to the paid version over time.
  - cm2187 10y ago
    I agree. But I would expect Windows Pro to be that edition. The "pro" doesn't stand for much right now.