4 ms·

Seems to me that OS design is starting to be a solved problem - and Microsoft was ready with W10 to just coast for a while. It also seems (Ryzen & M1 notwithst

Seems to me that OS design is starting to be a solved problem - and Microsoft was ready with W10 to just coast for a while. It also seems (Ryzen & M1 notwithstanding) that hardware is coasting too. There just isn't much anymore that needs to be done. Microsoft was probably content to use Windows 10 as a moat / loss leader, and make their money off Active Directory subscriptions (you pay through the nose nowadays for user accounts) and Office subscriptions. Too bad the hardware manufacturers and resellers can't sell software subscriptions. I'd guess the hardware folks had a nice long chat with Microsoft and made it clear that the only way forward is for Microsoft to continue to use their OS to 'encourage' people to upgrade their hardware.

andai 5y ago
There's allegedly an old quote from Microsoft (ca. 1992), "software should get bigger every year." They make a lot of money from copies of Windows that ship preinstalled on new computers. So Microsoft is actually in the business of encouraging consumers to buy new computers.
- fuzzfactor 5y ago
  Like Apple, more money can probably be made as an anti-recycling company than an engineering company.
mywittyname 5y ago
> Microsoft was probably content to use Windows 10 as a moat / loss leader Windows isn't a loss leader. It's actually quite profitable. Which is exactly why they are releasing a new version of Windows; they want to drive sales of Windows. It's been five years since the last major release, and a new release will boost revenues nicely.