Supported lifetime of the device? What does that mean?
I left out one piece in my last article regarding whether or not Microsoft's upgrade policy for Windows 10 has been confusing or not. And that is the piece regarding verbiage on Microsoft's site which includes the following:
I think the second interpretation is bat shit crazy for so many reasons. And I think the first interpretation makes a LOT of sense when you consider how MS is proposing Windows 10 is different from prior incarnations of the OS.
At heart, Microsoft is an enterprise and a lot of their wording and practices cater to enterprises. In that fashion, historical Microsoft OS's have had a planned date well in advance when sales would end and when support would end. You can go look it up, Microsoft has already planned when they will end support for even Windows 7 and 8. This is par for the course for Microsoft (and true enterprise grade software in general).
But, if Windows 10 is supposed to be the last version of Windows ever, then it theoretically will NEVER have an end to either mainstream or extended support. This COULD pose a HUGE problem for Microsoft. It would mean that they would need to support every piece of Windows 8 hardware indefinitely. And that means an ever growing support debt for the company.
Obviously, that isn't a corner they want to back themselves into. Since they can no longer use the life of the OS to sunset support, they have to switch to the life of the device.
And, if we're being completely realistic here, more than likely, once your device reaches the end of such support, the device will likely continue to receive updates. You just won't get support if things stop working.
In all honesty, it takes time and money to implement an elegant solution to enforce this. And, it is fiscally more responsible just to drop support than it is to try and allow people to pay to continue being supported. So, I think the only 2 viable options are that nothing happens at the end of the supported lifetime of your device aside from no longer being able to get support or you simply stop receiving updates and no amount of money (aside from replacing your PC) will change that.
As to how long a device lifetime would be? That I can't say either. I suspect it would either a standard length of time (OSs look to get about 5 years of mainstream support, which seems like a fair number) or the OEM could decide on a term, and that term simply gets applied based on the devices activation date.
A 5 year lifetime isn't really all that bad if that is what it ends up being. While I have had devices last longer than that, even for a laptop or a desktop they have generally already been passed on to a friend or family member by that time. Windows 8 mainstream support isn't up for 3 more years and my first Windows 8 device is already gone on to a new home. And even fresh installs on old hardware, once the updates are applied still result in ever slowing machines. At some point the average person just gives up caring if the device is supported any longer and I think 5 years is more than long enough for most people.
once a qualified Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it up to date for the supported lifetime of the device, keeping it more secure, and introducing new features and functionality over time – for no additional charge.This article, and many others are also needlessly speculating on what this means. There are of course 2 ways to read this. The most practical way (I think) is "We'll keep your device updated for free, but we reserve the right to supporting your hardware entirely at some point", or what other people seem to be reading it as (which I think is lunacy) which is "we'll keep your device updated until its expected end of life and then charge you for updates".
I think the second interpretation is bat shit crazy for so many reasons. And I think the first interpretation makes a LOT of sense when you consider how MS is proposing Windows 10 is different from prior incarnations of the OS.
At heart, Microsoft is an enterprise and a lot of their wording and practices cater to enterprises. In that fashion, historical Microsoft OS's have had a planned date well in advance when sales would end and when support would end. You can go look it up, Microsoft has already planned when they will end support for even Windows 7 and 8. This is par for the course for Microsoft (and true enterprise grade software in general).
But, if Windows 10 is supposed to be the last version of Windows ever, then it theoretically will NEVER have an end to either mainstream or extended support. This COULD pose a HUGE problem for Microsoft. It would mean that they would need to support every piece of Windows 8 hardware indefinitely. And that means an ever growing support debt for the company.
Obviously, that isn't a corner they want to back themselves into. Since they can no longer use the life of the OS to sunset support, they have to switch to the life of the device.
And, if we're being completely realistic here, more than likely, once your device reaches the end of such support, the device will likely continue to receive updates. You just won't get support if things stop working.
In all honesty, it takes time and money to implement an elegant solution to enforce this. And, it is fiscally more responsible just to drop support than it is to try and allow people to pay to continue being supported. So, I think the only 2 viable options are that nothing happens at the end of the supported lifetime of your device aside from no longer being able to get support or you simply stop receiving updates and no amount of money (aside from replacing your PC) will change that.
As to how long a device lifetime would be? That I can't say either. I suspect it would either a standard length of time (OSs look to get about 5 years of mainstream support, which seems like a fair number) or the OEM could decide on a term, and that term simply gets applied based on the devices activation date.
A 5 year lifetime isn't really all that bad if that is what it ends up being. While I have had devices last longer than that, even for a laptop or a desktop they have generally already been passed on to a friend or family member by that time. Windows 8 mainstream support isn't up for 3 more years and my first Windows 8 device is already gone on to a new home. And even fresh installs on old hardware, once the updates are applied still result in ever slowing machines. At some point the average person just gives up caring if the device is supported any longer and I think 5 years is more than long enough for most people.
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