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If windows 10 is free for everyone... Then... ??


chef

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chef

Is Microsoft going to charge a monthly or yearly fee for the OS?

 

Any thoughts from the community on this.

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fantaxp7

I hadn't heard anything about recurring fees. Microsoft has been doing a lot of cool things lately, this would certainly be a step back in the public's eyes if true.

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Happy2Play

From what I have read, the OS is a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8 for the first year then the OS will sell for around the same price as Windows 8.1 is right now.

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Koleckai Silvestri

A lot of people will still be paying for a copy either bundled into their new device purchase or through OEM licenses.

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techywarrior

Based on their wording when discussing Windows 10 it seems that they are going to charge an OS license and then you get free updates. So if you buy a new PC from Dell etc. they license cost will already be included. Then you are entitled to free upgrades.

 

If you build a machine yourself, or want to upgrade a machine that is running XP you purchase a Windows 10 license for $119 and you get free updates.

 

They haven't talked much about the future (which makes sense given that Win10 isn't even out the door yet) but they have alluded to the fact that you won't need to pay for OS upgrades even if they decide to change the name to Win11 in the future because of a new design etc.

 

MS wasn't happy with the longevity of XP and I don't think the entire computer industry has been happy with it either. And frankly, I'm not sure consumers should be happy with it. With XP surviving as long as it has people haven't purchased new computers (industry unhappy). Developers and manufacturers can't really push the envelope or use new technology because too many people are on a system that doesn't support it (think DX12 or USB 3). And consumers lose because we don't get new stuff (think same as previous).

 

The solution in MS's mind is to try and keep everyone on the latest and greatest OS. This works well for phones, browsers, consoles, etc. and allows the industry to keep moving forward without having to deal with constantly growing tail. With the way Wall Street and everyone else has responded to Satya Nadella's leadership so far I think the current MS as a services company is going to be around for a long time.

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chef

I can see why they would offer the upgrade free, in order to move people away from xp.

 

Even my work computer is running xp, but I connect with the central server which is 7.

 

Interesting way to get people off of xp.

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techywarrior

Well, the free upgrade is for 7, 8, 8.1. Not XP.

 

This is sort of "Reset" time for MS. They hope that now that XP isn't supported, and there have been SOOOooo many changes since it came out a decade ago that people will finally buy new computers or pay for Win10 licenses.

 

Metrics aren't 100% accurate but most agree that XP is down to under 15% share now. If MS can get 85% of people on Win10 it would be a huge win. I expect to see Win10 have a market share of 50% within the first year of it's release. That would be a huge ramp as it is. I think this can only be good and I hope to see a more agile Windows in the future.

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badaas

So if you still on XP you have to pay for W10? So that is fail if they want people off XP? Or have I read that wrong?

W7/8 free upgrade, XP pay $119.

 

edit: I typed this before you posted lol

Edited by badaas
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techywarrior

So if you still on XP you have to pay for W10? So that is fail if they want people off XP? Or have I read that wrong?

W7/8 free upgrade, XP pay $119.

 

edit: I typed this before you posted lol

 

You have it right. But XP market share is finally falling fast(ish) with support finally ending. It's more that they don't want to get into that situation again (with Win7 for instance).

 

Some people will remain on XP. Either they refuse to upgrade (no difference probably if it were free) or they can't afford it.

 

The media/press has really loved Win10 and I think for the non-techy people the media has more impact then any of us would like. That will probably make this OS uptake very rapid (obviously the free upgrade makes a huge difference too).

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I don't think they are going recurring fees simply because it's in their best interests to swallow it right now just to bring people back to their ecosystem, and they have the means to do that. You may choose to call recurring fees a step back but it is your own actions that have driven the software industry towards that direction. Your (consumer) expectation of all things free and cheap has taken away the market for larger one-time fees, and as a result, small recurring fees are the new means of survival for many software products. If you don't want recurring fees then the best way to voice your opinion is by purchasing software. Go through all of your installed apps and buy the deluxe version of all of them. Then perhaps the industry will take notice and start changing business strategies.

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fantaxp7

I don't think they are going recurring fees simply because it's in their best interests to swallow it right now just to bring people back to their ecosystem, and they have the means to do that. You may choose to call recurring fees a step back but it is your own actions that have driven the software industry towards that direction. Your (consumer) expectation of all things free and cheap has taken away the market for larger one-time fees, and as a result, small recurring fees are the new means of survival for many software products. If you don't want recurring fees then the best way to voice your opinion is by purchasing software. Go through all of your installed apps and buy the deluxe version of all of them. Then perhaps the industry will take notice and start changing business strategies.

True. 

 

A friend of mine worked as an apple genius for some time, he mentioned how they often give out software upgrades for free and I think sometimes actual software. I think it's this sort of thing plus the general negative reception of windows 8 that would drive MS to do something "cool". At the end of the day, MS driving people back as you say in itself will present all sorts of opportunities for them to make money in other areas. And of course some people out there will end up paying one way or another. 

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Deihmos

So if you still on XP you have to pay for W10? So that is fail if they want people off XP? Or have I read that wrong?

W7/8 free upgrade, XP pay $119.

 

edit: I typed this before you posted lol

I think just businesses with poor IT or no IT are still using XP. Home users with very old computers will have it but they don't have machines strong enough to run win 10 anyway.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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fantaxp7

I think just businesses with poor IT or no IT are still using XP. Home users with very old computers will have it but they don't have machines strong enough to run win 10 anyway.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

XP was awesome! that's where the xp in fanta comes from  ;).

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Deihmos

It was awesome back in 2001. Not awesome in 2015.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

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techywarrior

XP was awesome! that's where the xp in fanta comes from  ;).

XP was awesome... 10 years ago. It was the first consumer OS on the NT core. But it had a rocky start too. Since it had a new driver model and being NT based instead of Win95 (3.1) derived. People seem to forget that.

 

But it was a LONG time ago...

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The XP interface was an instant hit though. They originally intended for the enterprise audience to get the classic gray theme but feedback was so overwhelmingly positive about the blue that they had to reconsider. By today's standards the XP UI would be considered overdoing it. Everybody is going minimal these days. 

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fantaxp7

I agree 100% it's old, I think like 1999? I was just poking fun at it.  :)

 

MS is really hit or miss...XP solid, Vista....WIn7 awesome, Win8 so-so. By that logic 10 should be good. 

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techywarrior

The XP interface was an instant hit though. They originally intended for the enterprise audience to get the classic gray theme but feedback was so overwhelmingly positive about the blue that they had to reconsider. By today's standards the XP UI would be considered overdoing it. Everybody is going minimal these days. 

Yup, XP for corporate was supposed to basically use the Win2000 UI since that was what they were used to. I ran Win2000 as a consumer OS (which it was fine for except some older software had compatibility issues since they were made for Win95).

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badaas

XP was (and probably still is solid). For something like an audio workstation, or designated type PC it just worked.

I'm on W7 now, and that is getting to an XP status of reliability imho.

W8 I can't even use, I'm not illiterate when it comes to OS types, GUIs, WIMP etc etc, but W8 I just have no clue wtf is going on with their tile system! It's so obfuscated, sorry going off on a tangent. ..

W10 I haven't even seen. It is at the end of the day a consumer fashion led OS race.. Prefer the bolt on variety of unix/linux, you install the underneath core, then install your own preferred GUI, Gnome, KDE with Compiz (if that is even cutting it anymore?). :D

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fantaxp7

XP was (and probably still is solid). For something like an audio workstation, or designated type PC it just worked.

I'm on W7 now, and that is getting to an XP status of reliability imho.

W8 I can't even use, I'm not illiterate when it comes to OS types, GUIs, WIMP etc etc, but W8 I just have no clue wtf is going on with their tile system! It's so obfuscated, sorry going off on a tangent. ..

W10 I haven't even seen. It is at the end of the day a consumer fashion led OS race.. Prefer the bolt on variety of unix/linux, you install the underneath core, then install your own preferred GUI, Gnome, KDE with Compiz (if that is even cutting it anymore?). :D

If win10 sucks I'll more than likely switch to linux. I remember playing around with compiz awhile back, that was cool stuff but a bit buggy for me. 

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techywarrior

Badaas, any OS after years of patching should be more stable then something new. Although it doesn't sound like your issue with Win8 was the stability but more then GUI change. It was definitely a departure and on the desktop (mouse/keyboard) it definitely has limitations. It's annoying on a big monitor that everything takes up the entire screen (for metro apps) (( I know snapping but it's not the same )).

 

I'm playing with Win10 on my laptop right now (as I post this) and have been for a few months. I suspect you guys will really like it as they have taken some of the best aspects of Win8 (yes, there are actually a lot of good things in there if you get over the UI) but made it so that it respects that most people are using keyboard/mouse and a large monitor still.

 

By default the GUI is going to remind you of a hybrid of Win8 and Win7 but a lot of the "Win8" stuff you can disable if you really wanted. It's a much much smaller learning curve then Win8 was (going from XP or 7 to Win10).

 

The nice thing is, you will get Win10 for free. Install it, play around with it (give it some time and tweak things if you prefer) and if you still don't like it you can install another OS. At least it isn't going to cost you to try it.

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geaves

I do IT support for a local school and currently we are on W7 having moving from XP, totally bypassed Vista, after an initial 12 month bedding in period we probably wouldn't use anything else, however, if the hype on W10 delivers then that will be the next step as it's supposed to combine 'the best bits' from W7 and W8. Which means you can have a traditional desktop or tiles.

 

We have just taken a delivery of 9 laptops for teachers but these have 8.1 on them as they use a UEFI bios, which can be disabled and W7 be deployed via PXE, we are also awaiting 16 Hybrid Tablets these will also have 8.1 on them, but with some server changes they will be integrated into the domain.

 

I personally think the move by MS to offer a free upgrade is to encourage users to move to W10 which supposedly will be able to work across multiple devices, which MS has been seriously lacking over the last decade.

 

I would agree that XP was rock solid particularly within an enterprise and as yet MS have struggled (although W7 does take some beating) to copy XP's popularity. 

 

I must say these laptops which have a UEFI bios, SSD's with 8.1, blink and your desktop's there albeit as a standalone pc, not sure how they would stack up connecting to a domain.

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chef

From a preview on YouTube I watched, the "snap" feature looks to be very promising in Windows 10.

 

It looks very intuitive.

 

And the virtual desktop looks great too.

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techywarrior

I've always liked the snap feature since it was introduced in Vista (or was it W7) but it is so much better now. Four way snap is nice but the intelligent suggestion after you snap is very helpful. I use(d) it more on my small screen laptop since on a large screen I prefer to have overlapping windows. But that also brings me to my favorite new feature in Win10. And that's the fact that metro/modern apps are in a window now. No longer does Skype have to be full screen or snap to a 30% of my screen if I want to run it and see people (ignoring the desktop version of Skype in this example). Now I can have 5 metro apps open on my desktop just like traditional Windows apps.

 

The metro app model is actually really great since those apps all run in their own sandbox. This adds a layer of security to apps that was never present before in Windows. On top of that developers are being encouraged to design them in a responsive manor so not only do they run better on different screen sizes but they handle being resized very well.

 

I haven't played with virtual desktops on my laptop much other then just testing the functionality. It works really well and I will most likely use it a lot on my desktop where I tend to have work and play stuff open at the same time. It's nice to be able to separate the programs/windows that are displayed. I also think it will be more useful once you get used to the keyboard shortcuts CTRL-WIN-LEFT/RIGHT so you can very quickly switch.

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Koleckai Silvestri

From a preview on YouTube I watched, the "snap" feature looks to be very promising in Windows 10.

Aero Snap? Align apps with left or right of the monitor and use split screens? That is a Windows 7 feature. May have even been in Vista. Windows 10 does improve on how it works.

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