SMH
Why do you all believe this would happen? As the article pointed out, Microsoft would be doing itself a great disservice with a business model like this. It’s NOT going to happen!
What I will tell you, Microsoft, like Google and Apple, are going to start charging for operating system components. They want to deploy a stripped down operating system with a browser and a file system. Add-ons like movie players, music players, games, etc. will cost money to tack on to the OS. This is already in play with the “stores” such as iTunes, Google Play, and the Microsoft Store. There are free apps, but there are a much larger number of pay-to-play apps. They’re going the microtransaction route by charging small amounts of money for games like Minecraft or Angry Birds. There will still be larger gaming houses such as EA, UbiSoft, Bethesda, and Blizzard, but they’ll be pushed to offer their services in-app much like Steam does now.
And then there’s the usual automation apps such as Microsoft Office and online storage such as Dropbox or OneDrive that will cost money.
So no, Minn, the operating system environment will NEVER go pay-to-play, but the components that jack on to the operating system will cost money through the use of microtransation-based stores, which you’re already seeing on most mobile platforms.
Office was once a one time payment, now it is yearly.
Thank YOU!
This is just crazy. Some of the BS people say here is almost slander.
Windows 10 will be free to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 user for one year. THAT means if you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on your computer, you can upgrade to Windows 10 for free, and the offer is good for a year—NOT the software—the offer.
That means, for example, that after a year goes by, and you still have Windows 8.1, and now you decide you want Windows 10, you will have to pay for it.
However, if you already took the offer and upgraded your Windows 7 computer to Windows 10, you are good FOREVER with Windows 10—just as you were for every other Windows OS you bought.
Now, will Windows 10 stay forever? No. Hackers will continue to learn new exploits, new hardware will evolve and be available, and operating systems will be written to adjust to this.
How you will get THOSE operating system updates and WHAT they will be called we do not know. Microsoft will use a new distribution called Windows as a Service. The changes to the operating system will not be rolled up together and put in a new version, but rather, will be sent out piecemeal, as they write them. I imagine they will charge something for these updates.
But if you don’t pay, I imagine you won’t get them.
Just like some people I know who are still running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98 because that’s just fine with them and they don’t want to spend any more money on software.