Recommended Posts

I'm quite upset to see that the possibility of Windows 7 being a subscription-based OS is becoming ever more a reality. When I buy windows, I want to be able to use it for as long as I please without spending another penny. I don't care if its Modular, more power to Windows and Microsoft in that case. I do NOT want however, to have my O.S. as a subscription to renew every year or whatever.

Your thoughts on this?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/627423-software-as-a-service-is-stupid/
Share on other sites

I don't see anyway that Microsoft can do this now that they actually have competition. I'm sure if they didn't have that competition then there would be a good possibility of it happening and it might still happen with the business versions of Windows 7 because MS doesn't face the same amount of pressure in business as they do in the home market.

I don't see anyway that Microsoft can do this now that they actually have competition. I'm sure if they didn't have that competition then there would be a good possibility of it happening and it might still happen with the business versions of Windows 7 because MS doesn't face the same amount of pressure in business as they do in the home market.

Microsoft is mainly targeting businesses. They are testing the idea out on the day-to-day consumer, but not their primary focus.

Microsoft desperately needs to reassure its partners that it won't repeat another Vista-like development cycle. Love it or hate it, Vista's tardy arrival has damaged the company's reputation for putting out frequent, usually upgrade-worthy releases. This hurts the company in ways not obvious to end users.

Microsoft's pie-in-the-sky, dream-come-true version of the future is one in which both businesses and consumers subscribe to Microsoft products rather than buy them. As I wrote way back in 2002, this is ultimately about annualizing software revenue for Microsoft (IT shops don't mind it either, in theory). Obviously Microsoft's big focus is on subscriptions for businesses, but the company is already testing "pay as you go" consumer subscriptions in developing countries.

The whole idea seems more ideal for a business infrastructure anyways. As they state: That study found that customers who are subscribing to Microsoft's OS are getting an especially bad deal right now because the time between releases is too long, it could provide more-so as an update versus a complete software install.

As they talk about different SKU's and compare it to Linux.. I look at it like this:

You have XP and need to add features much like vista. The different SKU "packages" can be added into the install for what may be no more than an upgrade in your subscription fee (if any).

Businesses, yes. Today's consumer, no.

If you read the Ars Technica article you'll know that the subscription model was for businesses, not end users.

I did read that article, along with their related articles; It also notes a home-user possibility, as well as their related articles that they linked throughout this article mentions several times it is considered to be a home-level consumer movement as well.

i'd probably just stay with Vista as that there would be Windows ME TOO. Like hey... me too also sux so you can just skip me or switch :)

I'll see that it's not for end users also but yeah, if that was eventually to happen i'd definitely be stuck with a "old, outdated, X year old OS"

Yea, people are going to have to upgrade at some point - just like with win98 and 2000 moving to XP. I dont think that vista is a bad thing - you just have to spend some time after installing getting rid of services that you dont want/need like defender, and windows security center. As well as a few other things.

And that's the whole point people like me keep trying to make. Eventually, you will have to upgrade because Microsoft will stop issuing patches.

Like it or not, you are forced. Forced to make a decision as to what OS you want next. That hard time I have is trying to move from Windows to learn Linux. I already know the Mac, but I just can't afford one of those.

This is a great thing for the PC consumer. Once again, Microsoft has screwed up. People didn't always have the option of using Macs or linux, but now they do. IMO, Microsoft is finally starting to lose its monopoly and competitors have a chance because Microsoft is taking their customers for granted and assuming they will buy whatever they put out and say is the best available.

Obviously, their belief is becoming less true everyday.

I agree with the sentiments of everybody else - if they make Windows a subscription, I'm jumping ship to Linux.

The article is probably really about a new version of Microsoft's Software Assurance (which is an optional subscription plan for volume licensing customers) though, so I don't think ATM there's anything to worry about.

I would support a "Windows Core" package sold at retail and the rest be sold separately via online. Being able to install just what you want to use and not have things forced on you would be a nice change of pace and would put a stop to all the antitrust issues surrounding MS. Its too good to happen though and if it did, Ballmer and MS marketing would ruin it...

The subscription thing being talked about here plain sucks though.

I am confused, what does the subject ("Software as a service") have to do with the first sentence of the post, "subscription based OS."

Further, Microsoft already offers subscriptions for Enterprise customers as part of the Software Assurance program. That is nothing new, and has been extremely successful. Why would you complain about that?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Disabling open on hover, great! That was so stupid! They need to do a fix, where if a network share is disconnected, it doesn't hang when opening "This PC" for 20 seconds.
    • Microsoft releases major feature updates for stock Windows 11 apps by Taras Buria In addition to releasing new Windows 11 preview builds, Microsoft announced that inbox Windows apps now have dedicated release notes in the official documentation. At long last, users have access to all the release notes for each app, with changes listed in chronological order. Microsoft used to announce feature updates for stock apps with each build. Now, with Windows Insider release notes hosted on the Microsoft Learn website, each app has a dedicated space for its changelog, which is very useful for those who want to track new features and improvements. Alongside that, Microsoft dropped massive feature updates for six stock apps: Clock, Media Player, Calculator, Voice Recorder, Photos, and Paint. Each app packs quite a lot of changes and new capabilities, so here are the release notes. Here are quick notes so that you can jump to the app you are interested in the most: Calculator Camera Clock Media Player Paint Photos Sound Recorder Here is what is new for the Calculator in version 11.2605.9.0: More accurate square-root results — Fixed rare cases where a calculation that should equal zero (like sqrt(2.25) - 1.5) returned a tiny leftover value instead. Readable text in High Contrast themes — Settings text now shows the correct colors in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. Fixed layout for right-to-left languages — For languages like Arabic and Hebrew, the graph, number pad, equation fields, and scroll buttons now appear correctly oriented. Reliable launch after upgrading — Fixed an issue where upgrading from much older versions could leave outdated settings that stopped the app from opening. Here is what is new for the Camera app (version 2026.2605.7.0): Zoom slider works on more cameras — The zoom slider now works on the latest cameras, respects your system zoom settings, and updates instantly when you change those settings. Full range of zoom levels — Fixed an issue where the zoom slider only showed three steps on some devices that zoom in finer increments. Front camera works on more devices — Resolved a problem that blocked the front-facing camera on certain wide-angle devices. More video resolution choices — You can now pick video resolutions that were previously hidden; the app shows a heads-up warning instead of removing them. QR links you can still use — When a scanned QR code points to something with no matching app, the link is now copied to your clipboard (with a notification) while still offering a Store search. Smarter default settings — When you haven't set a preference, the app now follows your system settings by default. The Clock app has a massive changelog with the following improvements in version 11.2605.9.0: Timers keep counting after they hit zero — When a timer runs out, it now keeps counting up (for example, -00:27:31) so you can see how far past the time you've gone. You can turn off the daily goal — Focus Sessions now include an "Off" option so you can skip setting a daily goal entirely. New 15-minute snooze option — Alarms now offer a 15-minute snooze interval. Run up to 3 countdowns at once — The Countdown Widget now supports three simultaneous countdowns, up from two. Timer Widget notifications now appear — Fixed an issue where the "timer finished" notification didn't show when the timer was started from the widget. Less clutter in Focus Sessions — Tasks you've already completed no longer show up in the Focus Session task list. More accurate focus progress — Fixed a rounding issue that could show your daily focus progress as a minute short (for example, 49 minutes instead of 50). Smoother World Clock comparisons — The World Clock compare page now loads dates as you scroll, so it feels more responsive. Up-to-date World Clock locations — Refreshed country and city names to match their current names. Correct sun and moon icons during midnight sun — Fixed an icon that wrongly showed a moon during all-day daylight in polar regions. Fixed back-button behavior in clock comparisons — Pressing back once now takes you back as expected, instead of jumping the date to 1926. Corrected the Newfoundland time zone — Newfoundland now uses the right time zone (St. John's). Disabled alarms stay looking disabled — Editing a turned-off alarm no longer makes it appear turned on. Cleaner timer cards — The expand button is now turned off on timer cards that have no time set, preventing actions that wouldn't do anything. Clearer theme setting — Updated the wording to "Choose your preferred app theme." Smoother Settings links — The "About" links in Settings no longer trigger an unexpected "switch apps" prompt. Fixed spacing in Spotify settings — Corrected uneven spacing in the Spotify settings card. Better focus visibility in High Contrast — The focus highlight in World Clock is now clearly visible in the High Contrast Aquatic and Desert themes. No more double announcements — Screen readers no longer read the timer value twice. Countdown names read correctly — Screen readers now properly announce the name of each countdown. Keyboard focus stays put — Focus no longer disappears after you press the Timer Reset button. Clearer alarm toggle for screen readers — Tidied up how the alarm on/off switch is announced. The Media Player app received plenty of changes as well (version 11.2605.14.0): Custom captions — You can now personalize how closed captions appear, with caption styling tied to your Windows caption settings, plus a quick link to open those settings directly. "Indexing" banner in the play queue — When your media library is still being scanned, a banner now explains why some items may not appear yet. Fixed the look of selected items — Corrected a layout glitch with selected items in lists. Fewer playback failures — Improved how the app recognizes supported file types, so more files play without issues. Playlists need a name — You can no longer accidentally save a playlist with a blank name. Cleaner look for empty playlists — Improved how a playlist appears when it has no items yet. More stable play queue edits — Fixed a crash that could happen when changing the play queue while the app was switching between sessions. Clearer "missing codec" message — Improved the dialog that appears when a file needs a codec you don't have, with clearer guidance on what to do. A big update is also available for Paint in version 11.2605.61.0: Adjustable eraser transparency — You can now control how transparent the eraser is. Cleaner stamp brush strokes — Fixed visible color shifts and artifacts when using stamp-style brushes. JPEG photos save in place — Opening a rotated JPEG and pressing Save now overwrites the original instead of unexpectedly prompting "Save As." No more crash on bad image files — Opening a damaged or invalid image, from within the app, by double click, or commandline, now shows a clear error message instead of closing the app. Classic selection behavior restored — The selection outline now hides while you move, resize, or rotate a selection, just like in classic Paint. Tidier AI image panel — Fixed missing spacing at the bottom of the AI image generation panel for a cleaner layout. Visible button hover in light theme — Toolbar split buttons now show a clear hover highlight in the light theme. Snappier toolbar — Streamlined how the ribbon lays out, giving a small speed boost at startup. Fewer background crashes — Fixed a crash that could happen while background tasks were finishing up. Stable app shutdown — Prevented rare crashes when closing the app. Fixed layer removal glitch — Deleting the active layer no longer leaves the layers list in an inconsistent state. Here is what is new in the Photos app (version 2026.11060.2004.0): AI watermarking — AI-generated or edited images can now carry a visible Copilot watermark. You choose Never, Always, or Ask Every Time in Settings, with a confirmation when saving. The watermarking is off by default in settings. Better viewing of small images and pixel art — Tiny images (like 16×16 pixel art) now zoom in far more to fill the screen and stay crisp instead of looking blurry. Select scanned text with the keyboard — When text is detected in an image, you can now navigate and select it using the arrow keys, Shift+Arrow, Home/End, and Ctrl+A, with a clear focus highlight. Fixed a crash in text recognition — Resolved a crash that could close Photos while detecting text in images; the app now recovers gracefully. Easier keyboard navigation — Tabbing through the navigation bar no longer stops on hidden controls, so it takes a single Tab to move past it instead of three. And finally, here is the Sound Recorder (version 11.2605.1.0): Waveform shows with Bluetooth mics — The live waveform now displays correctly when you record using a Bluetooth audio device. No more stray scrollbar — A non-working horizontal scrollbar no longer appears at the bottom of the waveform unless you've zoomed in. Mark button ready right away — The Mark button no longer looks grayed out until you hover over it after opening the app. Markers hidden for WAV files — Markers are now turned off for WAV recordings, since that format can't store them — so they're no longer lost silently. Smoother deleting — Quickly pressing Delete and Enter to remove several recordings in a row no longer triggers a "file doesn't exist" error. Fixed a memory issue — Resolved a memory leak that occurred each time a recording started. You can find all these changelogs in the official documentation here.
    • again, an article about Microsoft Edge and ridicules hater's comments
    • From this very same article: "For organizations that prefer a “more deliberate pace”, the Extended Stable channel remains an option."
    • Or every other browser, because they all behave the same, at least the mainstream ones. Firefox does exactly the same: background updates, restart to install them. Haters gotta hate, I guess.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Very Popular
      AndrewSteel earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Veteran
      Taliseian went up a rank
      Veteran
    • One Month Later
      Clizby earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Timaximus earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Timaximus earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      512
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      170
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      162
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      85
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      78
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!