Windows 10 = Free?
I hate the internet some days more than others. Today is a high-hate sort of day. This sort of FUD is ridiculous.
Both the author and the readers seem to have just read enough to scare themselves without actually getting their facts straight.
It is the *UPGRADE* which is free for 1 year. Specifically, the right to take go from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10. After the 1 year you may not be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. This has absolutely nothing to do with RUNNING the OS beyond that year. FFS people. This has actually been QUITE clear, and for some time now. Months actually. And oddly, it didn't seem like when it was originally mentioned that ANYONE was confused by what it meant. Perhaps because those people actually READ ALL of what was said.
The only thing which remains questionable is what they will do AFTER that 1 year for those who wish to UPGRADE and also what the retail cost will be (if any).
There is no reasonable/credible information of any sort, ANYWHERE to imply that those who have upgraded will be subjected to either paying for the OS on a recurring basis or suffering from adware.
The whole "OS as a service" is really just meant to describe the fact that like all of their TRUE service offerings like VSO, Office 365, Azure, etc... you will be kept up to date for FREE in perpetuity. The OS is of course, not truly a service. It is installed and run locally. You won't turn off your computer for a year, fire it up and find you are still up to date. The OS will still need to download and install updates, just like a traditional OS.
For those who think Microsoft is scheming somehow here... perhaps VSO and Office Online are the best things you should look at. Both are either free or have free offerings which have been around for some time now and which MS has shown no inclination to screw people over on.
Furthermore, the reality is that Microsoft is doing this because they need people running Windows 10. It is what will be on ALL OF THEIR DEVICES. They monetize the Windows Store, if they can get enough users on their platform and using their store they don't need ad revenue or subscription OS revenue. In fact, they already make more off of their other services than they do off the Windows division already.
And, if you watched the build Keynote, you actually see this ringing true in many of the points that they stressed. Firstly, they talked about having a billion people on the same version of the same OS. This is only true if they can move Windows 7 and 8 users onto Windows 10. And they care about being able to boast about that because numbers will help draw developers.
They also made a number of VERY important points around making sure that the developers they draw in go through their store. Again, very clearly making the gamble around Store purchases rather than licensing. And those key points were
Both the author and the readers seem to have just read enough to scare themselves without actually getting their facts straight.
It is the *UPGRADE* which is free for 1 year. Specifically, the right to take go from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10. After the 1 year you may not be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. This has absolutely nothing to do with RUNNING the OS beyond that year. FFS people. This has actually been QUITE clear, and for some time now. Months actually. And oddly, it didn't seem like when it was originally mentioned that ANYONE was confused by what it meant. Perhaps because those people actually READ ALL of what was said.
The only thing which remains questionable is what they will do AFTER that 1 year for those who wish to UPGRADE and also what the retail cost will be (if any).
There is no reasonable/credible information of any sort, ANYWHERE to imply that those who have upgraded will be subjected to either paying for the OS on a recurring basis or suffering from adware.
The whole "OS as a service" is really just meant to describe the fact that like all of their TRUE service offerings like VSO, Office 365, Azure, etc... you will be kept up to date for FREE in perpetuity. The OS is of course, not truly a service. It is installed and run locally. You won't turn off your computer for a year, fire it up and find you are still up to date. The OS will still need to download and install updates, just like a traditional OS.
For those who think Microsoft is scheming somehow here... perhaps VSO and Office Online are the best things you should look at. Both are either free or have free offerings which have been around for some time now and which MS has shown no inclination to screw people over on.
Furthermore, the reality is that Microsoft is doing this because they need people running Windows 10. It is what will be on ALL OF THEIR DEVICES. They monetize the Windows Store, if they can get enough users on their platform and using their store they don't need ad revenue or subscription OS revenue. In fact, they already make more off of their other services than they do off the Windows division already.
And, if you watched the build Keynote, you actually see this ringing true in many of the points that they stressed. Firstly, they talked about having a billion people on the same version of the same OS. This is only true if they can move Windows 7 and 8 users onto Windows 10. And they care about being able to boast about that because numbers will help draw developers.
They also made a number of VERY important points around making sure that the developers they draw in go through their store. Again, very clearly making the gamble around Store purchases rather than licensing. And those key points were
- Win32 apps in the Store, and not like today where they are just links out to a website to purchase/download, but TRULY in the store. Monetizes through the store and delivered and installed/uninstall through the store. Not only that, they also gain the sandboxing aspect that Universal apps get.
- Android apps on Windows Phone. Again, these will undoubtedly be available only through the Windows Store ensuring MS gets a slice of the monetization.
- iOS apps easily ported to Universal Apps. YET AGAIN!!! Universal App, monetized through the Windows Store.
- Web Apps in the Store.
In case you're blind... the above is Microsoft's revenue strategy for Windows 10. Not some fantastical (and horribly flawed) theory about them pulling the rug out from under you.
Yes, the "adware" is something new. But amusingly, it actually help validate EVERYTHING I said above. But, lets not forget... we know they are putting *something* in there to help promote people to upgrade to Windows 10. We don't even know what form that something will take yet, making this whole damn thing even FUDdier than it already was.
All we can say about the adware is that Microsoft wants you to upgrade to Windows 10. They will give you a year to do so, and it seems as though they have plans to notify and perhaps even recommend that you upgrade during that timeframe. It could be as simple as a one-time pop-up that says "Hey! Do you want this free OS" or more likely it will be something to that end which has an option to silence it indefinitely.
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