4 ms·

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 t

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 will work. There are plenty of reasons that some companies are still clinging to Windows XP. For a large company to give up control over exactly what is on each computer and be able to plan long term is a non starter. Would we then see yearly "cumulative packs" being offered that can be tested prior to release? Would there be a central tool provided by Microsoft for the enterprise customers that will allow them to control the exact feature versions, fixes etc for every computer centrally and that way to cumulative upgrades? I would love for Microsoft to come out with a new Next Generation Operating system that breaks compatibility even more than Windows NT did back in the day. I think its long overdue but unfortunately i don't see it happening anytime soon. They are investing a lot now in trying to use as much of the codebase as possible across all of their targeted devices. I

davidgerard 11y ago
> 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.
- PebblesHD 11y ago
  >2016 >Year of the linux desktop?
  - davidgerard 11y ago
    Seriously, the year of the Linux desktop was 2007. That's when netbooks came along and Microsoft actually had to compete on price for Windows.
mark_l_watson 11y ago
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.
agentdrtran 11y ago
Most consumers will never tolerate a montly fee to use their OS.
wongarsu 11y ago
I doubt that they will ask for subscription for the OS itself. I think they are more likely to go the iOS/Android route and will try to monetize Windows with the App store introduced in Windows 8. And of course owning the Desktop OS market continues to put them in a strong position in the profitable enterprise market which doesn't mind paying for features and support.

davidgerard 11y ago

> 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.

PebblesHD 11y ago
>2016 >Year of the linux desktop?
- davidgerard 11y ago
  Seriously, the year of the Linux desktop was 2007. That's when netbooks came along and Microsoft actually had to compete on price for Windows.

mark_l_watson 11y ago

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.

agentdrtran 11y ago

Most consumers will never tolerate a montly fee to use their OS.

wongarsu 11y ago

I doubt that they will ask for subscription for the OS itself. I think they are more likely to go the iOS/Android route and will try to monetize Windows with the App store introduced in Windows 8. And of course owning the Desktop OS market continues to put them in a strong position in the profitable enterprise market which doesn't mind paying for features and support.