Windows 10 is "the last version of Windows," says Microsoft dev

[Saracen]

I should imagine their cloud services will be free for the basics just like its free now when you use outlook.com or Bing a bit like Android / Google. But they'll offer a more complete package for people / organisations that need that bit more e.g Office365 for a charge. As for ads if you use Google, Gmail, Outlook, Google maps or what ever, you get ads surely or have to pay for the service. If I put it this way, you buy a PC with the OS as a 1 off, then browse to Google do a search and get adverts then log into webmail and get adverts again. What's the difference?

The other thing is sometimes the adverts can be good, such as via a mapping service to show me where a local petrol station is for example, this will generate money and is useful.

The other source of revenue would be the Windows Store, so again like Android.

Perhaps, but like I said, not from me they won't. I don't use cloud storage or services. Period. Free or otherwise. I avoid almost all Google services like the plague. I don't use Google for search, run my own email, not webmail, and don't use Google maps, either. On my one Android device, I keep GPS permanently disabled, and don't use it for ANY activity that involves personal information.

I also don't use smartphones, etc, for SatNav. Ever. Nor do I want petrol station adverts. Ever. My standalone SatNav, with no net connection, finds garages if I need one, but in some 15 years of having that capability, I've yet to need it. I just keep an eye on fuel levels, and fill up before needing to make an effort to find a fuel station.

In general, you may well be right. But what I said was not from me, they won't. Personally, I don't want to see ad's, on anything, from anybody, ever, if I can possibly avoid it. I certainly do not, under any circumstances, want an ad-funded OS. If that's where MS are going, then I can say for a certainty they're going without me. I will pay, ONCE, for an OS, but I won't pay a subscription, and I'm more likely to subscribe that put up with an ad-funded OS.

[Saracen]

I am wondering if in the future we will be the installer process change so that all apps must be installed via the Windows Store.

That way, Windows could be a free "service" that will be subsidised by Windows Store purchases.....could explain a lot of what's being said/implied.

Dunno, but if so, it's another move that sees me leave Windows for Linux. That, to me, on my personal computer, is as acceptable as letting Steam control my access to games. Hell, no. No way.

[GuidoLS]

And just to pile on the evil, Windows Insiders (those of us actually beta testing Win10) get a free upgrade to Win 10 RTM. That's roughly 4 million people.

http://www.windowscentral.com/window...ws-10-rtm-free
http://www.neowin.net/news/nearly-4-...a-free-upgrade
http://www.pcworld.com/article/29210...m-version.html

And a few hundred other links of a similar nature....

It's not too late... this one is pretty much unconditional.

[excalibur2]

And just to pile on the evil, Windows Insiders (those of us actually beta testing Win10) get a free upgrade to Win 10 RTM. That's roughly 4 million people.

http://www.windowscentral.com/window...ws-10-rtm-free
http://www.neowin.net/news/nearly-4-...a-free-upgrade
http://www.pcworld.com/article/29210...m-version.html

And a few hundred other links of a similar nature....

It's not too late... this one is pretty much unconditional.

As an insider it's still confusing as will we be able to download an upgrade iso or installation iso, e.g. I transferred my insider win 10 from a 40g hard drive to a 1tb drive and I was only able to do this because I downloaded the installation iso for build 10074.

[jag272]

And just to pile on the evil, Windows Insiders (those of us actually beta testing Win10) get a free upgrade to Win 10 RTM. That's roughly 4 million people.

http://www.windowscentral.com/window...ws-10-rtm-free
http://www.neowin.net/news/nearly-4-...a-free-upgrade
http://www.pcworld.com/article/29210...m-version.html

And a few hundred other links of a similar nature....

It's not too late... this one is pretty much unconditional.

Was just reading about this after looking at the articles you linked. The guy later clarified it still requires 7/8 Etc key so it's basically part of the same free upgrade deal for existing users.

[GazP172]

I should imagine their cloud services will be free for the basics just like its free now when you use outlook.com or Bing a bit like Android / Google. But they'll offer a more complete package for people / organisations that need that bit more e.g Office365 for a charge. As for ads if you use Google, Gmail, Outlook, Google maps or what ever, you get ads surely or have to pay for the service. If I put it this way, you buy a PC with the OS as a 1 off, then browse to Google do a search and get adverts then log into webmail and get adverts again. What's the difference?

The other thing is sometimes the adverts can be good, such as via a mapping service to show me where a local petrol station is for example, this will generate money and is useful.

The other source of revenue would be the Windows Store, so again like Android.

Perhaps, but like I said, not from me they won't. I don't use cloud storage or services. Period. Free or otherwise. I avoid almost all Google services like the plague. I don't use Google for search, run my own email, not webmail, and don't use Google maps, either. On my one Android device, I keep GPS permanently disabled, and don't use it for ANY activity that involves personal information.

I also don't use smartphones, etc, for SatNav. Ever. Nor do I want petrol station adverts. Ever. My standalone SatNav, with no net connection, finds garages if I need one, but in some 15 years of having that capability, I've yet to need it. I just keep an eye on fuel levels, and fill up before needing to make an effort to find a fuel station.

In general, you may well be right. But what I said was not from me, they won't. Personally, I don't want to see ad's, on anything, from anybody, ever, if I can possibly avoid it. I certainly do not, under any circumstances, want an ad-funded OS. If that's where MS are going, then I can say for a certainty they're going without me. I will pay, ONCE, for an OS, but I won't pay a subscription, and I'm more likely to subscribe that put up with an ad-funded OS.

Microsoft are being made to change their model by its competitors, the Market has spoken, people have jumped in bed with Apple and Google and MS are having to change or die if its not too late already. From what I can tell they are basically mirroring the competition.

What are your thoughts on Googles model, they seem to use ads/services/track personal details/App store to fund their OS and so does Apple but with the added bonus of Hardware sales.

[shaithis]

Microsoft are being made to change their model by its competitors, the Market has spoken, people have jumped in bed with Apple and Google and MS are having to change or die if its not too late already. From what I can tell they are basically mirroring the competition.

What are your thoughts on Googles model, they seem to use ads/services/track personal details/App store to fund their OS and so does Apple but with the added bonus of Hardware sales.

It's something that has gone through my mind, the problem I have is that Windows for home users has been quite a revenue stream for so many years that I find it hard to reconcile Microsoft giving it away free. On top of that is that they can't leverage hardware sales from giving it away......so you are left with adverts and app purchases.

Both advert and app profits will be linked to how useful the Windows store is, which currently is truly abysmal (IMO)....so if they want to go that route, the store needs a serious shake-up.

[cjs150]

"I am wondering if in the future we will be the installer process change so that all apps must be installed via the Windows Store."

That is a serious issue for me. I want to choose what programs I install, not what MS things I should install. I want to go direct to the program website to download (thereby ensuring MS do not get their cut of the price). This walled garden approach is one of the key reasons I will not jump to apple

[GuidoLS]

Was just reading about this after looking at the articles you linked. The guy later clarified it still requires 7/8 Etc key so it's basically part of the same free upgrade deal for existing users.

Looks like Gabe was holding on a bit too tightly to the bottle... and he confuses it more later on. Reason number 384,399,291 that communicating official business (or anything else, for that matter) on Twitter is stupid. What I'm more interested in finding out is if the Insider Preview will upgrade to RTM directly, or are they going to force a clean install.

Currently running 10 on a machine that is similar, but slightly lower, in stats to my main system, and I'm finding that it my gaming experience is consistently outperforming the main machine, by anywhere from 5 to 25%, and both machines are running DX10 hardware, so no advantage gained from DX12. As a result, I'm sort of seriously contemplating doing the upgrade on my main box, and if it will upgrade straight to RTM (which I don't recall 7 doing) then so much the better.

[GuidoLS]

I think people are reading way too much into the 'free' thing. It's not free forever, to start. It's not free to Enterprise users, period (whom I will guarantee have far more of a financial interest and input than pretty much the entire consumer base, and by a wide margin)

The following, you're just going to have to take my word for, but I have no reason to lie to you -

It's not a walled garden. At all. The ONLY program I have not been able to install is an MS program - Microsoft Security Essentials, and that's because it's been superseded by the latest version of Defender, and that happened back with Win8. I have yet to install any program that doesn't function properly with Win10, including Winamp, which hasn't had a new release in years (despite the 'demise' of Winamp, Shoutcast radio is still going strong, and it's my favorite interface for it). I've installed it on to machines that are below the listed requirements. I've installed it on to machines that did poorly with their initial OS (Dell minibook ran horribly on Win7, runs like a champ on 10). Not that I'd really advise it, but I've installed it on a P3, with 512mb of memory and a 10gb HD, and it ran.

And with no intent at disrespect, but where on earth did the idea that MS was even thinking about forcing use of their store come from? Seriously, what COMPUTER company has a closed system like that? Pretty sure there's nothing I cannot run on the Surface, which is the MS branded hardware. The only limitation for Macs is a lack of software being produced because, after all this time, there are still certain sectors that don't take Apple seriously as a computer developer. Tablets are not computers, and neither are phones, despite protestations to the contrary. Not in the traditional sense of the word, at any rate. They are closed systems, and were designed to be that way.

And in case it's been forgotten, there are still some people (even here on Hexus) that carry their hate for MS on their sleeves because of the integration of IE years ago. Do you folks honestly believe the EU will let MS get away with that on a wholesale level? Can't have it both ways, folks.

[shaithis]

Your preview experience may not be reflected in the final product.

As for free forever....if you look at the statements coming out of Microsoft......"Windows 10 will be free for the duration of the device" and "Windows 10 is the last version of Windows"....combine them and what do you get?

Now, let your mind wander around the thought of.....if those statements are true, how will they monetise the product?

[jag272]

Looks like Gabe was holding on a bit too tightly to the bottle... and he confuses it more later on. Reason number 384,399,291 that communicating official business (or anything else, for that matter) on Twitter is stupid. What I'm more interested in finding out is if the Insider Preview will upgrade to RTM directly, or are they going to force a clean install.

Ye seems he's made quite a mess. The initial statement just struck me as odd so I read around a bit more and found that bit about still requiring a 7/8 key because if they gave you a flat upgrade then surely theyd be opening up a channel for pirates to get legitimate versions free.

What I think they actually mean is that you can upgrade directly from Insider to RTM at which point it will put you into trial mode and ask you to activate your key. As for installing an non-Insider systems, I assume that will be done via the update people believe to be the Win10 installer that popped up a while ago and that will automatically inherit the key like any other registered upgrade.

[GuidoLS]

Your preview experience may not be reflected in the final product.

As for free forever....if you look at the statements coming out of Microsoft......"Windows 10 will be free for the duration of the device" and "Windows 10 is the last version of Windows"....combine them and what do you get?

Now, let your mind wander around the thought of.....if those statements are true, how will they monetise the product?

In order for my experience to change radically from what it is right now, they'd have to make an entirely different product. I'm not sure they're capable of doing that inside of 2 months. Or 2 years.

As for the Last Version of Windows thing, I take from that the same statement that came out of Cuppertino when they said OSX is the last version for the Mac. I take it mean that, from here on out, it will just be Windows. Period.

And when I combine your 2 quotes, I get 2 combined, non-related advertising blurbs, made by different people. Free forever? I'm kind of curious where that came from. It's a free upgrade for the first year, with a valid key. I suspect I know how they're going to handle the upgrades - they've sort of inadvertently shown how when downloading the previews. (They give you a key, if you're wondering. Which would answer the 'forever' question'. Even though nobody said forever.)

And they will monetize it the same way they always have - they'll get their cut from the OEM's, they'll get their cut from Enterprise (which has ALWAYS been the lions share), they'll get their cut from people upgrading from XP/Vista, and after a year, they'll get their cut from everyone, because then they'll have to purchase it.

[shaithis]

“This is more than a one-time upgrade,” Myerson wrote. “Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device—at no additional charge.”

[GuidoLS]

“This is more than a one-time upgrade,” Myerson wrote. “Once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device—at no additional charge.”

How many times are they supposed to give you something for free? And while most people don't bother with the EULA, but buying Windows always entitled you to one machine and one machine only. They've just never enforced it.

It's not my place in the world to try to convince you or anyone else. A mind made up is a hard thing to change, and all that. Windows 7 is good for almost another 5 years, so don't change if you don't want. I certainly won't force you in to it. But I will continue to present the facts about it, as I am observing them, to any and all who continue to read - and please save the negativity for something you haven't even tried for someone else. It makes you look petty. So do out of context quotes. Thanks.

[excalibur2]

Anyway the end result is:- unless MS can persuade motherboard makers to install a chip ( a type of dongle) on the motherboard then with software, pirates will always find a way of making illegal win 10...... genuine.