If Windows become subscription based...
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I know it's not, and there are various articles circling at the moment in regards to Microsoft releasing Windows 10 Daas designed for businesses.
What are your thoughts if one day you had to have a subscription for using windows on your personal or business computers?
I can see a lot of businesses would probably have no choice but to sign up, but if they pushed this on home users, I could see a shift for many to find an alternative like Linux or Mac.
Most major companies like Adobe and Autodesk turned subscription based a while back now, but people still use these products because they are industry standard tools.
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You can already get Windows on a subscription...
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@360col yes, what about forced with no alternative?
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DaaS and subscription licensing are very different things.
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Windows is so cheap. What would the subscription be, $1-2? Windows users are largely Wibdows users because they are trapped.
MS wont do this because it undermines their entire ecosystem - it would be insane. It would mean PC prices would drop by the cost of Windows and people woukd get OS options. People use Windows because it comes with their PCs at purchase time. If it doesnt, theyll stop using it.
But people who want it wont change. Subscriotion models are generally better for everyone. But given that almost no one buys Windows intentionally today, that model is guaranteed to fail.
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What I see happening, particularly in business, is that they will move Windows client OS licensing out of VL for the SMB market and push it toward an InTune bundle. They are already most of the way there already.
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I think it's possible, but it may be only if the sort of devices people use it with change in some manner down the road, but for PCs and Servers it isn't really a good way to go for anyone I don't think. Like SAM said, it would undermine their entire ecosystem, but for cloud or goofy end consumer devices where the subscription is possibly bundled with some other service fee, certainly possible.
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Now to undermine your thread, I think a more interesting remote possibility is: what if Windows (for some uses) becomes free? Well, as free as far as the user is concerned or sees it anyway. Doubtful for servers, but for everything else depending on the way devices go it may force Microsoft's hand. They ended up making free versions of things like Visual Studio, they're stunted, but they work... I never thought they'd even do that.
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@tonyshowoff said in If Windows become subscription based...:
Now to undermine your thread, I think a more interesting remote possibility is: what if Windows (for some uses) becomes free? Well, as free as far as the user is concerned or sees it anyway. Doubtful for servers, but for everything else depending on the way devices go it may force Microsoft's hand. They ended up making free versions of things like Visual Studio, they're stunted, but they work... I never thought they'd even do that.
This could be completely possible as well and would be great, and they probably already earn a fair amount with the Microsoft store and bundling apps like candy crush to support this direction.
I didn't create this thread because I believe Microsoft are taking this path or because it's my opinion, I was just interested if people would pay monthly for their OS, or wherever it would push them in another direction..
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@stuartjordan said in If Windows become subscription based...:
@tonyshowoff said in If Windows become subscription based...:
Now to undermine your thread, I think a more interesting remote possibility is: what if Windows (for some uses) becomes free? Well, as free as far as the user is concerned or sees it anyway. Doubtful for servers, but for everything else depending on the way devices go it may force Microsoft's hand. They ended up making free versions of things like Visual Studio, they're stunted, but they work... I never thought they'd even do that.
This could be completely possible as well and would be great, and they probably already earn a fair amount with the Microsoft store and bundling apps like candy crush to support this direction.
I didn't create this thread because I believe Microsoft are taking this path or because it's my opinion, I was just interested if people would pay monthly for their OS, or wherever it would push them in another direction..
I would pay monthly for my OS, but I wouldn't pay for Windows (and I don't.) Most people pay for Windows already, so moving to paying in a more sensible way wouldn't be a big barrier. I'm often shocked at how many people pay for poorly working OSes, when more solid ones are free. But for a really good one, I'd be okay with paying monthly. I'm glad that I don't have to, but it wouldn't be a big deal.
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@scottalanmiller said in If Windows become subscription based...:
@stuartjordan said in If Windows become subscription based...:
@tonyshowoff said in If Windows become subscription based...:
Now to undermine your thread, I think a more interesting remote possibility is: what if Windows (for some uses) becomes free? Well, as free as far as the user is concerned or sees it anyway. Doubtful for servers, but for everything else depending on the way devices go it may force Microsoft's hand. They ended up making free versions of things like Visual Studio, they're stunted, but they work... I never thought they'd even do that.
This could be completely possible as well and would be great, and they probably already earn a fair amount with the Microsoft store and bundling apps like candy crush to support this direction.
I didn't create this thread because I believe Microsoft are taking this path or because it's my opinion, I was just interested if people would pay monthly for their OS, or wherever it would push them in another direction..
I would pay monthly for my OS, but I wouldn't pay for Windows (and I don't.) Most people pay for Windows already, so moving to paying in a more sensible way wouldn't be a big barrier. I'm often shocked at how many people pay for poorly working OSes, when more solid ones are free. But for a really good one, I'd be okay with paying monthly. I'm glad that I don't have to, but it wouldn't be a big deal.
If I may repeat the constantly repeated non-sense from the super Windows IT warriors:
Hurr durr, ya get what ya pay for!
P.S. I don't know a damn thing about my own job.
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@scottalanmiller well I know the licence cost is included in most pc builds like dell etc when you buy a machine, but I don't see them somehow lowering the cost of the machine if you did have to have windows on a subscription, so technically you would probably be paying more.
And let's not forget once everyone is on subscription that Microsoft can shoot up the prices when they want.
They Soon raised 365 pricing without much backlash..
Office 2019 on premise is getting a 10% price rise, to probably push more over to 365.
That's a tactical move and Microsoft defently know what they are doing.
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And the debate on Linux Vs windows, I love Linux and would run it everyday if I could, I've said before if I do move over it would be to Deepin.
Unfortunately their are certain applications I need to use that are only Windows based..
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@stuartjordan said in If Windows become subscription based...:
@scottalanmiller well I know the licence cost is included in most pc builds like dell etc when you buy a machine, but I don't see them somehow lowering the cost of the machine if you did have to have windows on a subscription, so technically you would probably be paying more.
That wouldn't make sense, though. Now the question would be... would you be willing to pay TWICE for Windows... BOTH buying it up front AND paying a subscription price for it again. That would be crazy and is nothing like the original question, that's just "would you keep paying for Windows if the price doubled suddenly", and the issue is the greater cost, not the subscription pricing.
But in the real world, the price WOULD come down, it would have to. As it is, the belief is that Windows has to go free to compete as it is, and in many cases has already gone free. From updates to initial installs, Windows is getting moved to free, not doubled in price.
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@stuartjordan said in If Windows become subscription based...:
And let's not forget once everyone is on subscription that Microsoft can shoot up the prices when they want.
Not really, because people can drop them instantly, too. It's a risky move to jump prices on a service that can be cancelled anytime.
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@stuartjordan said in If Windows become subscription based...:
Office 2019 on premise is getting a 10% price rise, to probably push more over to 365.
Sure, but that's still better than cutting the non-subscription pricing. It's not on premises, both versions are on premises. It's just subscription versus non-subscription pricing.
But they don't double dip, it is one or the other.
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@stuartjordan said in If Windows become subscription based...:
@scottalanmiller well I know the licence cost is included in most pc builds like dell etc when you buy a machine, but I don't see them somehow lowering the cost of the machine if you did have to have windows on a subscription, so technically you would probably be paying more.
And let's not forget once everyone is on subscription that Microsoft can shoot up the prices when they want.
They Soon raised 365 pricing without much backlash..
Where are you seeing that? The main O365 products, which are Hosted Exchange (E0), E1 and E3 have remained stable since O365 has been released. Not one penny of a price hike, yet more and more features have been added to the package. Given the rise in features, and given inflation, the price has actually decreased, not increased, over the entire life of the product category.
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@scottalanmiller said in If Windows become subscription based...:
Hosted Exchange (E0)
There is no such thing.
I assume that you mean Exchange Online Plan 1.
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