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Following remarks made at the Credit Suisse Technology Conference by Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, there has been some speculation that Windows 10 could be released for free, or at least at a very low price while being backed by some subscription services.
Here's what Turner had to say:
“We’ve got to monetize it differently. And there are services involved. There are additional opportunities for us to bring additional services to the product and do it in a creative way. And through the course of the summer and spring we’ll be announcing what that business model looks like.”
This could mean that Windows 10 is given away for free, while some of Microsoft's products like Office 365, Skype and Onedrive among other services were accessible through a subscription fee. It would certainly be a good way to get people to upgrade to the latest OS from the software giant, potentially avoiding the big cut off like it had when it dropped XP support.
This is similar to what we have seen already in other parts of the software industry, with some companies moving away from the traditional way of selling it to the end user with every major revision, to instead using a subscription model with a recurring fee and continual updates. Adobe and Microsoft are both doing this already with Adobe Creative Cloud and Office respectively. Every time there was a new version of these products in the past you would need to spend quite a bit of money to upgrade, but nowadays you pay a small amount every month and always have access to the latest version of the software.
If Microsoft did go down this route, it would make Windows operate more in tune with the likes of Linux, with a constantly involving distribution instead of one that takes big leaps every few years.
Only time will tell what plans Microsoft has, but with Windows 10 scheduled for consumer release in late summer 2015 we should find out well before then.
KitGuru Says: If correct this could mean that a lot of people who could not previously afford to upgrade to the latest version of Windows would be able to, gaining the security and productivity advantages. On the other hand, the subscription would have to be worthwhile and probably relatively cheap. This is something that Microsoft has managed to do with the Office 365 subscription, with added Skype minutes and unlimited Onedrive storage as well as all Office products. Would you pay a subscription for Windows+services?
Source: Geekwire
It would be hard balance for them.
will there be a free version? or at least a non subscription version? What limitations will there be?
Will we own our licence?
And what about bussines?
I won’t be paying for a subscription. Not a single chance. It’ll end up more expensive in the long run, which is what they want.
And no doubt they will force bloatware every update!
Kitguru. You have it all wrong. Microsoft needs to carefully think this one through. Forcing a subscription product to be able to operate a home PC will be torture to a customer. The Less money a customer has to spend is always better and like the following comments on this link said it will end up more expensive in the long run. How can you agree with Microsoft on this topic.
If I was Microsoft I’d take a few months to rethink this over. Clearly they only have their own pockets on their minds and not the customers. If this is a way to combat piracy, they going about this the wrong way.
What happens if you end up out of work and unable to pay your subscription, do you get locked out of windows ? No thankyou, i’ll stick with windows 7 if that is their plan.
Why would Microsoft rethink something nobody but Microsoft has any idea about?
Why would people even think that Windows itself would be on a subscription? That’s far from what Kevin Turner said, which was that Microsoft would monetise additional services. If anything, that would suggest, like Brendon said, that Windows itself would cost very little or be free.
I would rather pay for a full version then have to try and crack a subscription based os.. dam right I wouldn’t pay a monthy/yealy fee for a os….
For my self, all legit from MS directly
Windows Vista Home Pre was free
Windows Vista Signature Edition 99$
Windows 7 Home Pre was 29.99
Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition Free
Windows 8 Pro 14.99$
Windows 8 Pro MCE add-on Free…
way better then a sub based..
Useless, I would just go to alternative services if they decide to put a fee on their services. There’s already Google Docs, Drive and enough chat alternatives. It’d be their dumbest action but I’m not complaining. A free OS would make me upgrade for sure.
One version of windows 10. $49.99. That’s it. Has everything in it. Fully loaded… without bloatware. Feel free to turn office, the cloud(online external hard drive lol) and whatever other bad service into a subscription based fee. I would pay for windows 10 glady at a $50 price tag. Nothing more. Otherwise, ill wait a few months and get an cracked, activated version of windows 10 and you wont see a dime from me
If they make Windows 10 subscription based, I would stay with Windows 7 for as long as possible, then switch to Linux.
What about if they charge only for office, skype , onedrive etc and the base OS may be free. If that is the case then its seems interesting to me.
If they did this I would switch to Linux I loved 7 & 8 been running the 10 Tech Preview and its amazing but I used Linux for years as I hated XP so if they do this I have no problem going back to Linux only switched back to windows for gaming but there is now steam for linux
I’m pretty sure they won’t be able to monetize skype, as I heard when they bought it they signed an agreement never to make skype a paid service.
This is verging on madness. Eventually, if you follow the licensing model down into the OS itself (which is what they intend), we will be paying for each service application running under Windows, and they’ll have us over a barrel because certain services would be essential. They are selling off their OS bit by bit.
You’d end up with situations where, for example, the telephony service needs to launch, because you have no internet and need to connect via modem. The service would have to validate itself first, and for that, it needs an internet connection. Catch 22.
But Skype is free on all platforms (currently). OneDrive needs the free element to be even considered over Dropbox or Google Drive. Office is paid for anyway.
I’d use Libre Office myself anyway. I’d rather just pay for the OS and be done.
they are going to create the internet with a continue use of getting money annually to pay there utilities and profit will go back up again while knocking out the local people who cannot afford to pay the pigs are rising from there troughs squealing they are hungry