Is Windows moving to a subscription-based/desktop as a service model?

[pangaea]

Do you think Windows will move to a subscription-based model like they did for MS Office? Personally I'm hoping it helps push more game developers and such to Linux if it goes in that direction. I tend to avoid making regular scheduled payments for stuff personally (my cellphone bill is one big payment a year via Mint Mobile, I pay off my credit card way more often than I need to really to the point where it's basically a debit card, I don't use any subscription-based online services, and I've never financed a thing in my life).

[TheGlenlivet]

Maybe.  Microsoft isn't running out of money and make income through a lot of other means so they don't need to do this right now, but in the future... maybe.

I agree, it would be a huge win for Linux and Mac OS if they did.

[Mira Yurizaki]

I'm pretty sure Microsoft knows that if it forces its userbase to pay for subscriptions to use the OS, it'll kill its market share really fast.

 

Now if they want people to pay for updates, that's a different story. Unless of course the OS starts nagging you to hell that your OS is out of date and you should subscribe for updates.

 

EDIT: Just an FYI, Red Hat Enterprise Linux runs off the support for subscription method. So the possibility isn't as absurd as you might think.

[Fleetscut]

From what i have been hearing it seems like Microsoft is moving away from Windows as their flagship product and are focusing more on cloud and Azure. They have said multiple times that they are looking at transitioning Windows from a piece of software to more of a service. I think they will avoid subsciptions just so that they can maintain market share of desktops. This guarantees that more users will be willing to purchased paid services that run on the Windows platform.

 

Also it seems like they are doing a good enough job on their own at destroying the reputation of windows. Windows 10 has not had a shortage of issues and annoyances, and it seems like  every update they release has major bugs that effect lots of people.

 

Also Linux doesnt really operate on a  "user experience first" kind of model. It isnt even a second or third concern. Linux is more about functionality and configurability. And when the majority of people who use computers arent tech savy, this can drive them away.

[GoodBytes]

I see it more that Microsoft is going by making Windows open source (part of it, probaly core part), and then you'll have MS distro and have MS services, store, ads in apps, etc.  to pay for support.

[DrMacintosh]

MS wants Windows to become a service, they want to become like Google in terms of collecting telemetry. Collecting and selling user data is an incredibly lucrative buisness, Google knows this and MS knows that Google knows this. I think they would rather it be "free," meaning you become the product like Android.

 

If they do move to a subscription based service, then Windows is over for me. The difference between Windows 10 and every other operating system is consent, and there are  alternatives out there that cost nothing to install and run and give you the power to say no. 

[pangaea]

3 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

MS wants Windows to become a service, they want to become like Google in terms of collecting telemetry. Collecting and selling user data is an incredibly lucrative buisness, Google knows this and MS knows that Google knows this. I think they would rather it be "free," meaning you become the product like Android.

 

If they do move to a subscription based service, then Windows is over for me. The difference between Windows 10 and every other operating system is consent, and there are  alternatives out there that cost nothing to install and run and give you the power to say no. 

I kind of wish you could install other OSes on your phone as easily as you can on a computer

[GoodBytes]

21 minutes ago, pangaea said:

I kind of wish you could install other OSes on your phone as easily as you can on a computer

Yup.

The worst, is that technically you can. I mean smartphones works like PCs. You have a UEFI, can do USB booting and so on. But, everything is locked down to the next level, so even if you jail broke your Android phone to install another Android release, it might not be jail broken enough to install... say, Windows 10 on ARM (just to give an example of a different OS) or a Linux distro or hacked up iOS. Then you have driver issues, of course, which is another headache by itself (not to mention that beside iOS and the now discontinued Firefox smartphone OS, you have no other OS that can do phone calls or send/receive SMS.... maybe Windows 10 in the future which will have part of the APIs in the coming up update toward the end of the year to do this (work in progress... who knows, maybe the Messaging app will be useful for most people).