Our favorite operating system, Windows, used to be a product. Right up until about 20 minutes ago, the Windows operating system was a software product. It runs on hardware products, called computers.
Now, as of, oh, 9 pm this evening, apparently, Windows is a service. Oh, wow, I feel really served. Microsoft is trying to soften me up for what I would guess is an imminent monthly payment. What the fuck is this crap?
No, I know, they don’t say they are getting me ready to pay every goddamned fucking month for this bloated, broken, and eternally updating/breaking piece of revenue-generating crap. But c’mon… what else can they mean? Windows 10 has always been about $100, and I bet they think that is a nice little floor to start off from. If they get each of those “$100 and my computer lasts four or five years” customers to pay $9.99/month forever I think they’ll find they make a lot more money. Hmmmm, weird!
One word: Linux.
#Windows #WaaS #WinScam #WindowsIsAService #NoOSaaS
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I don’t think Microsoft will charge users a monthly subscription fee. If they do, they will lose near entire populations, in poorer countries. As I understand it, Microsoft and the hardware vendors have reached an understanding. Vendors create the hardware, and support it for a few years. Computer manufacturers then buy a Windows license, or if the user is building a custom machine they buy their own license. Microsoft binds the Windows license to that hardware, and once the hardware is no longer supported by the vendor (in particular the CPU I believe), Microsoft drops support for the hardware in Windows, and Windows then refuses to install updates on those machines. The user then has to buy a new machine, or be unprotected. This means the the vendors make money, because new hardware is purchased. It also means Microsoft makes money, because a new Windows license is needed for the new hardware. It also means Microsoft has a smaller amount of hardware to support, which saves them time and money in development.
I think in the next few years we will see Microsoft switch Windows to a rolling release model. No more Windows 10, it will just be called “Windows”. I also think the availability of “retail” installers will drop, because they aren’t bound to hardware.
At least that’s what I think.
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Oh, interesting… I hadn’t thought about the rolling release model. I just assume that with everything becoming as-a-Service that’s what they were getting ready to do.
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