Windows 10 No 'Loss Leader' for Microsoft

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
Messages
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For all of us who were hoping beyond all hope that Microsoft’s Windows 10 will be free, looks like you can get over that notion. You may actually get the shell for free, but the component parts will surely put the price right back in Microsoft’s ballpark. It’s definitely a Pay me now or Pay me later situation. Microsoft will get their due one way or another.

We’ve got to monetize it differently, he explained. There are services involved. There are additional opportunities for us to bring additional services to the product in a creative way.
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"Services involved"makes it sound like another goddamn subscription. Those I don't know many who will pay a subscription fee for Windows.
 
I hear that, if 10 has some type of running monthly sub I highly doubt people will go for that.

If that do that windows 7 will become even more popular then it already is.
 
I hope they are talking about revenue from the apps store
 
MavericK96 said:
"Services involved"makes it sound like another goddamn subscription.
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Maybe they meant it very literally? Windows 10 is free, but the Print Spooler service will cost you a one-time fee of $9.99! :D
 
Time will shortly tell but imo people are reading too much into the comments made. E.g. it's entirely possible by "services" he means stuff like Office 365 and MS's other attempts to leverage a monopoly into a permanent monthly extortion scam.

Also does anyone know how this jives with MS's recent announcement that .NET is being made open source?
 
I'm so very perfectly pleased with Windows 7. They can have an OS based Micro Transaction front-end / overlay all they want. I can see it now, $10 for 100 emails. 30 days web access, $19.99. Want to shutup Clippy, give us $10. Yeah .......
 
I think they will GIVE you empty shell of Windows 10 for free but they will ask you to pay $$$ for added features. Its all part of bigger plan for them to change customers mind set. Don't fall into it.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I'm so very perfectly pleased with Windows 7. They can have an OS based Micro Transaction front-end / overlay all they want. I can see it now, $10 for 100 emails. 30 days web access, $19.99. Want to shutup Clippy, give us $10. Yeah .......
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Or they'll work it just like Office, which gives you two primary options:
1. Retail Office: Buy the full-version for a one-time fee and use it forever. Exactly what you're used to.
2. Office 365: Pay a monthly fee and get upgrades to the latest version for as long as you're a subscriber.

I see no problem with Microsoft introducing a Windows 365 variant, in addition to the current retail edition(s).
 
I'll wait and see what they do, but if it is a sub like 365 I'll likely pass. I want to pay a flat amount and be done with it. I've never minded the price of windows to be honest.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I'll wait and see what they do, but if it is a sub like 365 I'll likely pass. I want to pay a flat amount and be done with it. I've never minded the price of windows to be honest.
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I have, to be honest. $100 or more buys end-users a non-transferable OS with absolutely no support (MS's so-called "OEM" licensing). BTW we're still waiting for someone to explain who this mythical OEM might be.
 
I think what he's saying here in the most ambiguous way possible is that overall Windows 10 won't be free for everyone and that it will work a lot like it does today with Windows 8.1. Free on some devices, particularly low cost ones that can't be competitive on price with at cost Windows. And I don't think what he's saying precludes free upgrades for existing users, there's no mention of upgrades in this OP article at all.

I think the overall idea is to monitize Windows for those that get it free through services like Office 365 and the Windows Store. I don't see Windows itself becoming a subscription, not the host OS. Though offering Windows as a service to non-Windows platforms is probably coming.
 
Microsoft's pricing seems to be getting increasingly insulting. Windows 8.1 is FREE to OEMs, what to buy a Windows Upgrade? That will be $129.99 please. How does that compare to their closest competition? Mac OS Upgrade? $0, Chrome OS Upgrades $0. It seems like they're trying to compete with a rapid-release cycle with low prices with a rapid release cycle with legacy prices and if they really do that I think I'll just stay on my current version of Windows as long as humanly possible.

They're lucky that Windows' programming interfaces are such a mess or someone would have written a compatibility layer to run Windows programs on other OSes by now.
 
timta2 said:
Thanks but no thanks, I will stick with 7.
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And there's always those that think like this. Plenty still think that Windows XP is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Windows 8.1 has started to carve some popularity with these cheap tablets and hybrid devices. It would be interesting to see how Windows 7 compared to 8.1 on some of these devices like the HP Stream line, my guess is that Windows 8.1 would spank the hell out of Windows 7 on these low resource devices.
 
Quix said:
Microsoft's pricing seems to be getting increasingly insulting. Windows 8.1 is FREE to OEMs, what to buy a Windows Upgrade? That will be $129.99
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The upgrade from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1 was free.

Upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8.x costs $75, not $129
 
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Quix said:
Microsoft's pricing seems to be getting increasingly insulting. Windows 8.1 is FREE to OEMs, what to buy a Windows Upgrade? That will be $129.99 please. How does that compare to their closest competition? Mac OS Upgrade? $0, Chrome OS Upgrades $0. It seems like they're trying to compete with a rapid-release cycle with low prices with a rapid release cycle with legacy prices and if they really do that I think I'll just stay on my current version of Windows as long as humanly possible.
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I don't see how Microsoft is going to charge for upgrades for devices like the HP Stream 7 that costs a $100. There's certainly going to be free upgrades for some people, that's all but a done deal. The question is how far the free upgrades will go.
 
Things they could use a subscription model for (not saying I'm buying):
-cloud storage
-license for anti-malware. They could make a deal with Symantec, McAfee, etc.
-Office 365 (which I guess OneDrive would be the cloud storage I'm talking about)
-Bing search by default (but still be changeable by the end user)

If Microsoft had a better app store, possible this could be a revenue model. Will software vendors want to give MSFT 30%? Doubtful... good luck changing that model.
 
steakman1971 said:
If Microsoft had a better app store, possible this could be a revenue model. Will software vendors want to give MSFT 30%? Doubtful... good luck changing that model.
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Developers don't seem to have too much issue with giving Apple and even Google a slice. It's not like developers don't get something out of the deal with distribution and promotion. And software stores are now the norm for how people get software for their phones and tablets.
 
heatlesssun said:
I don't see how Microsoft is going to charge for upgrades for devices like the HP Stream 7 that costs a $100. There's certainly going to be free upgrades for some people, that's all but a done deal. The question is how far the free upgrades will go.
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Yup, Windows is free if the device is 7" or smaller, so talking about upgrade pricing on the low-end is kinda pointless.
 
Yeah, they will probably try to charge PC users $50 a year to access the internet. Windows Live /Xbox Live style. :rolleyes:
 
Unknown-One said:
Yup, Windows is free if the device is 7" or smaller, so talking about upgrade pricing on the low-end is kinda pointless.
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The official line was 9" and smaller, however that's not exactly how it works. The HP Stream laptops for instance are larger than that. The cost of the device is seems to be what's driving it. In any case, there's going to be tens of millions of cheap Windows devices sold before Windows 10 goes RTM and there's obviously going to have to be an upgrade path for those devices that's going to have to account the low prices of these devices.
 
$49 base, $79 w/ 500GB-1TB of onedrive space for the "life" of windows 10 and Finally $99 for base + 1TB storage + 1 year of office (or something like that).
 
Wrench said:
Yay now OS's come with DLC:rolleyes:
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This is nothing new.

Even going all the way back to XP, you had to pay extra to unlock additional features (upgrading from Home Edition to Professional). Windows Vista and Windows 7 each have a huge number of editions with various feature-sets and price-points.
 
hopefully they'll do another $14.99 upgrade to Windows 10 like they did for Windows 8 .. I guess we'll find out soon enough what kind of new business model Microsoft ends up with doing .. :)
 
Theres not going to be a subscription fee for Windows. You guys are crazy for even thinking that. Microsoft is not a stupid company.
 
steakman1971 said:
Things they could use a subscription model for (not saying I'm buying):
-cloud storage
-license for anti-malware. They could make a deal with Symantec, McAfee, etc.
-Office 365 (which I guess OneDrive would be the cloud storage I'm talking about)
-Bing search by default (but still be changeable by the end user)

If Microsoft had a better app store, possible this could be a revenue model. Will software vendors want to give MSFT 30%? Doubtful... good luck changing that model.
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EPIC FAIL ON ANTI-MALWARE. They NEED to make a deal with malwarebytes.org, superantispyware, or hitmanpro.....
 
We’ve got to monetize it differently, he explained. There are services involved. There are additional opportunities for us to bring additional services to the product in a creative way.
Click to expand...

Windows 10 Metro Plus! Pack Professional confirmed

TPtiWqB.jpg
 
heatlesssun said:
Developers don't seem to have too much issue with giving Apple and even Google a slice. It's not like developers don't get something out of the deal with distribution and promotion. And software stores are now the norm for how people get software for their phones and tablets.
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That intentionally ignores the elephant in the room - that there aren't enough people buying metro apps to make it worth developers while. So Microsoft is free to enjoy 30% of nothing.

If Microsoft is looking for come-from-behind strategies, charging the same 30% "because Apple and Google do it" is about as braindead as it gets.
 
Nah...PC World always sees some sort of dark cloud whenever it talks about Windows. Their interpretations are often off by a healthy margin. Microsoft pledged months ago to bring a start menu back to Win8, but instead of doing an 8.2/start menu version they decided to do a Win10 Preview with a start menu, instead. Judging by their start-menu-for-Win8.1 pledge earlier this year, the company will be making Win10 either a free update for 8.1 owners, or else a very inexpensive update similar to Win8's introductory pricing. Windows 7 (and earlier) owners can expect to pay normally for Windows 10 if they want it, imo. But public promises were made for 8.1, and right now the only way to make good on them is to give current 8.1 owners an upgrade to Win10 at no additional charge (unless Microsoft is going to shoehorn a start menu into 8.1 after Win10 ships--which would make practically no sense at all.)
 
DPI said:
That intentionally ignores the elephant in the room - that there aren't enough people buying metro apps to make it worth developers while. So Microsoft is free to enjoy 30% of nothing.

If Microsoft is looking for come-from-behind strategies, charging the same 30% "because Apple and Google do it" is about as braindead as it gets.
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Of course there is a market share problem here. That's why Microsoft is offering zero cost Windows licenses for a wide range of devices. We'll see how this plays out but Windows 8.1 devices across the board are as cheap as anything, even Android tablets and Chromebooks and many are actually getting high praise for what they offer like the HP Stream line.

It's interesting how this argument works with depending on the point of view. You're a fan of SteamOS and Steam on Linux and according to Valve's own data Steam on Linux is a disaster beyond even that of Windows 8. The latest Steam survey has Windows 10 with more market share than any version of Linux except the latest version of Ubuntu. Developers won't develop Windows modern apps but for some reason they will develop for desktop Linux. However it works out, you're at least as braindead as you're accusing me of being.
 
JeffDC said:
I have, to be honest. $100 or more buys end-users a non-transferable OS with absolutely no support (MS's so-called "OEM" licensing). BTW we're still waiting for someone to explain who this mythical OEM might be.
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He was banned.

OEM licensing? That's not for the typical 'end user'. That's for OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). Support goes through them.

Retail licensing gets you support from Microsoft.

It's like that with anything, though. Did you X product come with that from the factory? Yes? Go to the manufacturer. Did you buy X product from us to put in the other product? Sure, we'll help you. Cars, appliances, computers (even Intel has a different warranty and support structure for CPU's with OEM/Retail versions).

This OEM licensing you always complain about it pretty common in businesses.
 
the_servicer said:
Will it be possible to set up Windows 10 without a Microsoft account?
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It will if the way things are in Windows 10 preview end up in the retail. And like Windows 8 it'll be obfuscated to look like there is no obvious local account option - meaning the "create microsoft account" is big and loud, front and center, and "Sign in without a microsoft account" is relegated to bottom of screen in a dark color.
 
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