The avalanche has just began.
Can yall idiots just fact-check for a goddamn second? https://www.windowslatest.com/2023/10/16/no-windows-12-is-a-free-upgrade-and-wont-require-a-subscription/
Edit: Just type “windows 12 subscription” into your search bar. It’s fewer words than any of these comments!
This was based on a report that was debunked almost immediately, y’all gotta stop reposting this every day.
Nooo but it confirms my viewpoint :-(
Oh that sweet, sweet confirmation bias hit. Nothing like it!
I love paying for spyware!!!
Everyone here thinking it’s the beginning of the great migration :tm:
Sorry guys, people are just going to use cracked versions of windows to play games
I suspect most people that only use their Windows computer for general stuff like web browsing, e-mail, multi media, office etc., which is probably the majority by far, will actually fall for the subscription scam.
Yea sadly most people already do via an M365 subscription, if MS decides to tack an OS in with that, doubt many would care enough to make a swap.
I subscribe to M365 because my kids’ schools all distribute their assignments as Word docs. And they apparently use the most obscure formatting features, so the only way to get them to render and print properly is to use full Office desktop. Not even the web apps show them properly, and LibreOffice / google docs import totally mangle them.
Could you ask ChatGPT yet to reformat it for LibreOffice?
Well here at least the school offered an MS Office license to students few years ago, but still, have to pay for the OS…
This is the moment where Hannah Montana Linux will shine
If you’re not running Ubuntu Satanic Edition are you really a devout follower of the dark Lord
uwuntu better
Hell of a targeted ad
A chance for Faramir, Captain of FOSS, to show his quality.
Guess that’s the day I move over to Linux full time? Just installed mint on one of my work machines to play around on anyways…
The best time to start is now. The second best time to start is now.
Welcome!
Fuck, I missed the two best times to start
Kudos to Microsoft on keeping to inpirationally show us with every edition it can still get even worse… 😅
It’s not going to happen for normal users. This is most likely for users that already use some ms subscription, like office.
Exactly, it’s going to be Office 365+Windows in a single package kinda deal.
Probably with a mostly functioning Windows left if you stop paying, but no access to specific features or Office.
It’s just a way to get people to pay a few bucks a month extra for the Office 365 package, which in the long term culminates to getting full bank plus then some for Windows, instead of a one time flat fee people will then use for as long as they keep the system.
Most people I know use the same system/laptop for 3-4 years, some even as long as 6-8 years if the thing doesn’t break down.
The subscription will likely be setup so that you pay what you’d normally pay for a basic Windows Home (100-130ish) within the first 2 years (say $5 a month) and every year you use the same device longer than that, is just extra gravy for Microsoft.
But I doubt they’ll drop the simple license. There are to many devices where a subscription wouldn’t work and especially in this day and age, connecting the device to the Internet for any length of time is a big nono for the user/company.
John Riccitelo sees your “they couldn’t possibly be this self-destructive” and raises you a golden parachute.
To be clear, all the not-so-bad alternatives in this thread are still dealbreakers for me. I do pay for one Office sub, because I need it for work, but I have Windows installs in maybe half a dozen devices and I am NOT paying subscriptions for all of those.
The real silver lining is that if they do attempt it, and they might, it wouldn’t be the first time a Windows version bombs so bad in favor of its predecessor that they have to roll things back immediately, so we have a pretty clear picture of what that would look like.
it wouldn’t be the first time a Windows version bombs so bad in favor of its predecessor that they have to roll things back immediately, so we have a pretty clear picture of what that would look like.
The question is, would they care? End user business is a rather small position on their balance sheet I’d guess, it’s rather big support contracts and Azure. Let the individual users complain for a while, they’ve eaten all the shit over the years anyways, they’ll swallow another turd. My current employer justified switching from a Linux based system to Windows which took huge efforts with huge amounts of copium (“they’ve given in and understood our demands!”) yet I bet more issues will arrive when Windows 10 support expires.
Businesses won’t switch anyways, they never did in huge numbers, and private users are good at complaining and sometimes even holding out on old versions but once storage gets encrypted by ransomware that got in through unpatched security flaws in their no longer supported version of Windows, they’ll pay up anyways.
But I guess MS just says this idea out loud now so that people can get enraged and then they’ll do something less shitty and everyone will be like “we won! There’s no subscription!”
They cared the last few times, hence my good news comment.
MS’s revenue may be whatever it is, but Windows is definitely the crown jewel. There is no way MS would live through it cratering in home use. Not in this weather.
It’s none of the above. Turns out all the references to a subscription in the test builds were to Windows Internet of Things Enterprise subscription edition. Most enterprise things are ran on a subscription type license where you pay for support and rights to use it on an annual basis.
The enshittening continues. Why charge people once when you can charge them repeatedly until they decide enough is enough and leave?
Enshittification referred to products and services that were previously good
Hey now, Windows XP was pretty decent!
By the standards of its day, I’d even say Windows XP was good.
It was if you pretend anything before service pack 1 didn’t happen, I saw so many infected machines back then it wasn’t even funny. And I guess the more professional users saw it as a downgrade from Windows 2000.
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And their stock price has never been the same since you abandoned them!
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Things dont have to be good to get worse.
My suspicion is that home installations will still be available at retail or OEM channels.
The subscription likely applies more to enterprise and possibly Windows 365. Enterprise licensing is a mess which might actually be simplified by a subscription pay-what-you-actually-use model.
Also it’s be cool to see windows 365 come to consumers as an alternative to a full PC. Would be able to standardize on home thin-client builds, or possibly add it as a feature to the Xbox Platform.
Maybe all business versions, or subscriptions if joined to a domain
I’m just imagining a not-so-distant future where there’s $200 set-top boxes that can hook up to any HDMI port and have a current-gen cloud console and a nearly fully functional PC. Or cloud laptops that have W365 bundled in as part of a 5G service.
This is really just going to make Apple more sales and cripple the PC gaming market.
Then, Apple will do it and… maybe that will be the year of Linux desktop? 😉
Linux Gaming is now a truly viable force thanks to Steam (Proton). The PC Gaming market will be fine without Windows.
Except it’s still hell for online games with anti-cheat. Just about every other month, another article comes out about “Linux players unable to launch…” or “Linux players banned from…”
Valve is actively funding alternatives to those anti cheats and also working with them to get Linux supported. Its just not happening overnight.
Both easy anticheat and battle eye have support for Linux native and proton, it’s just down to the developers of games to enable it
Without windows more developers would likely enable support
Idk, I see this argument every time this discussion comes up but I’ve yet to experience anti cheat issues. I don’t think they don’t exist but it’s been extremely smooth sailing for me
Idk, but I know the last time I saw it happen was just under two months ago, with Apex Legends. IIRC, they never reversed those, either.
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As much as I hate being bled to death by subscription services, It’s probably still cheaper to subscribe to windows for a whole decade than use an apple computer outright for half that time.
The majority of Linux users aren’t in it because it’s free (as in free beer) anyway, and most broke gamers will likely continue to just pirate windows regardless.
However now that data usage and privacy and security is becoming a hot topic in the age of AI, I think once Microsoft and apple both start getting really brazen with their telemetry and embedded spyware, it will finally be the year of the Linux desktop! ;)
Apple is by far the worst offender of expensive shit products. It’s not going to make apple gain shit…the barrier to entry for an apple computer is just fucking stupid for what you get…nothing that good.
My MacBook air was like 1700, it’s faster than most pcs of that price.
Manifesting this outcome right now
I’m looking forward to see more Linux adoption because of this 😃
Was already looking to jump ship at the file explorers having ads as a “test” but boy howdy, do it Microsoft. This would push me to make the Linux switch outright.
Why wait for Microsoft when you can just…
I run everything but work and a gaming rig on some flavor of Linux.
In the past, I ran all Linux except work, so even gaming.
I just missed the ease of use of third party tools, mostly for modding sjbgke player games.
Maybe vortex works and I just don’t understand his to use it on Linux, buy I’ve also run into third party tools for other games (again, single player - not trying to cheat necessarily, though some questionable QoL mods end up creeping in after a few play through) and I’m not sure how to get them to run.
I’ve always had trouble with wine, never set up lutris, but proton was a boon for gamers everywhere, Linux or otherwise.
Anyone have a primer for a power user (sysadmin type duties on my own server, have been using Kali as an educational tool since back track) that’s pegged at gamers making the switch to Linux? I’ve mostly just figured it out looking to random guides and stack overflow, lol.
A screenshot of something that was posted 12 days ago?
