4 ms·
On a tangental remark, data is an enormous asset in a company these days. What if they released Windows 10 for free because the data is already worth enough com
by zatkin 11y ago
On a tangental remark, data is an enormous asset in a company these days. What if they released Windows 10 for free because the data is already worth enough compared to the typical cost of the operating system ($100)?
- joeyspn 11y agoIf you are not paying for the product... you are the product
- Dylan16807 11y agoYou pay for windows when you buy a computer. One free update does not invite that stupid cliche. Hint: a lot of companies treat you equally terribly even though you're paying
- PythonicAlpha 11y agoEven when other companies are doing it also, does it make it better? At least until now, you could use a computer and OS without being sold (just don't use some free services and avoid paid products where your data is also sold). But when the OS is also selling your data, you just have no hiding place any more!
- Dylan16807 11y agoI'm not defending Microsoft with that, I'm just attacking the cliche. "Being a product" is mostly unrelated to whether you're paying. Companies are jerks.
- PythonicAlpha 11y agoOk, thanks for the clarification! > Companies are jerks I fully agree with that! Also with your assertion, that using paid services will automatically help is totally correct, of course.
- cosarara97 11y agoI thought it was Office, not Windows, which brought the money in. So they could have done this regardless of the price of the data they are collecting.
- zatkin 11y agoThink about how many people use Windows. Now think about all of those users multiplied by all of their activity. Now hook up to the stream of all that data (because you know that the majority of those users won't go through the technical hassles of updating their settings). Now think about what you can do with that data. You can keep it internal and start to make really, really accurate predictions based directly off of users actions. And you get all that data for free.
- static_noise 11y agoI guess, you mean "price" of the operating system. The amount that a customer pays to Microsoft in order to legally install a copy. The cost per installation is pretty low for Microsoft. The cost to make an operating system on the other hand is in the billions. It makes sense to get money from those who are willing to pay and to get data (worth money) from those who are not willing to pay (but willing to pirate). It wouldn't create much positive publicity, but the most honest way would be a "pay for privacy" option where you have to pay a monthly sum in order to disable the data collection, profiling, data selling and targeted advertising.
- return0 11y agoThere is nothing cheaper than data.