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They're doing this to force people to buy new hardware and a new Windows licence. If they let you upgrade from Windows 10 for free, they don't make any money. T

They're doing this to force people to buy new hardware and a new Windows licence. If they let you upgrade from Windows 10 for free, they don't make any money. They've already gotten people used to free updates, so they can't charge money for Windows 11 upgrades directly. Most people buy pre-built computers, so a Windows 11 licence will be included by default for most, so they will make more money.

kawsper 5y ago
> They're doing this to force people to buy new hardware Forcing people to buy new hardware while there's a global chip shortage is going to be interesting.
- vetinari 5y ago
  First-gen Threadrippers are not supported by Windows 11. Freaking Treadrippers. If they think their owners are going to get new ones for Windows 11, they must be deluded.
  - XorNot 5y ago
    I only have Windows for gaming. Maybe this finally pushes me to Linux with Wine only. I certainly can use PCI passthrough and an emulated TPM in Qemu.
userbinator 5y ago
They're essentially promoting the creation of e-waste. Not to mention the rise of DRM and other user-hostile shit that they are now forcing you to have. I fucking hate what this industry has become...
- flenserboy 5y ago
  They're also going to create a large number of new Linux users. This might also allow great hardware to be obtainable for pennies on the dollar. I don't like the direction this is going, but there can be good things to come from this.
  - shadilay 5y ago
    Unless Linux PC's are 90% of shelf space at Best Buy/Amazon it won't. HN forgets that 95% of people are computer illiterate and would not be able to install Linux themselves.
staticassertion 5y ago
This is silly. Microsoft doesn't even consider Windows to be their major priority in terms of money - they're investing much more heavily in Azure. They also have given free updates repeatedly, so this is an especially weird argument... The reason they're doing this is because Microsoft doesn't control OEMs directly. They can't make Dell or whoever put in good hardware unless it's a hard-requirement to run their OS. They obviously want to start leveraging TPM 2.0, probably in order to properly compete with Chromebooks, which all require that tech already. Chromebooks and GSuite are a meaningful threat to Microsoft - Google has a huge head start in that they've enforced much stricter restrictions from day 1 on Chromebook hardware. Microsoft is just getting aggressive about doing the same. And it's going to take at least 4 years for them to catch up, given that Windows 10 EOLs in 2015 at the earliest. This fits far more into their business model of 0365, Sentinel, and Azure than it does with their Windows business model. edit: Expanding on this, TPM technology is critical to Zero Trust Networking, which I'm quite sure Microsoft is going to want to push - especially since Active Directory is getting ripped out of networks practically by government order at this point. If they follow through on this, in 4 years Windows networks could be radically more secure than they are today. This fits in well with where Microsoft is taking its business (cloud, security, organization support).
- zozbot234 5y ago
  > They can't make Dell or whoever put in good hardware unless it's a hard-requirement to run their OS. They control the Windows Logo standards, and have used these to enforce a variety of hardware requirements (including TPM) in the past.
  - staticassertion 5y ago
    Functionally, how would that change the situation? Sounds like it's just a different method of enforcement, with this perhaps being a stricter one that prevents maybe some sort of off-label selling of the OS?
    - 43920 5y ago
      The logo standards only apply to new hardware; what they’re doing now applies to existing hardware as well.

kawsper 5y ago

> They're doing this to force people to buy new hardware Forcing people to buy new hardware while there's a global chip shortage is going to be interesting.

vetinari 5y ago
First-gen Threadrippers are not supported by Windows 11. Freaking Treadrippers. If they think their owners are going to get new ones for Windows 11, they must be deluded.
- XorNot 5y ago
  I only have Windows for gaming. Maybe this finally pushes me to Linux with Wine only. I certainly can use PCI passthrough and an emulated TPM in Qemu.

userbinator 5y ago

They're essentially promoting the creation of e-waste. Not to mention the rise of DRM and other user-hostile shit that they are now forcing you to have. I fucking hate what this industry has become...

flenserboy 5y ago
They're also going to create a large number of new Linux users. This might also allow great hardware to be obtainable for pennies on the dollar. I don't like the direction this is going, but there can be good things to come from this.
- shadilay 5y ago
  Unless Linux PC's are 90% of shelf space at Best Buy/Amazon it won't. HN forgets that 95% of people are computer illiterate and would not be able to install Linux themselves.

staticassertion 5y ago

This is silly. Microsoft doesn't even consider Windows to be their major priority in terms of money - they're investing much more heavily in Azure. They also have given free updates repeatedly, so this is an especially weird argument... The reason they're doing this is because Microsoft doesn't control OEMs directly. They can't make Dell or whoever put in good hardware unless it's a hard-requirement to run their OS. They obviously want to start leveraging TPM 2.0, probably in order to properly compete with Chromebooks, which all require that tech already. Chromebooks and GSuite are a meaningful threat to Microsoft - Google has a huge head start in that they've enforced much stricter restrictions from day 1 on Chromebook hardware. Microsoft is just getting aggressive about doing the same. And it's going to take at least 4 years for them to catch up, given that Windows 10 EOLs in 2015 at the earliest. This fits far more into their business model of 0365, Sentinel, and Azure than it does with their Windows business model. edit: Expanding on this, TPM technology is critical to Zero Trust Networking, which I'm quite sure Microsoft is going to want to push - especially since Active Directory is getting ripped out of networks practically by government order at this point. If they follow through on this, in 4 years Windows networks could be radically more secure than they are today. This fits in well with where Microsoft is taking its business (cloud, security, organization support).

zozbot234 5y ago
> They can't make Dell or whoever put in good hardware unless it's a hard-requirement to run their OS. They control the Windows Logo standards, and have used these to enforce a variety of hardware requirements (including TPM) in the past.
- staticassertion 5y ago
  Functionally, how would that change the situation? Sounds like it's just a different method of enforcement, with this perhaps being a stricter one that prevents maybe some sort of off-label selling of the OS?
  - 43920 5y ago
    The logo standards only apply to new hardware; what they’re doing now applies to existing hardware as well.