We may see Windows 10 RTM as early as June of this year on new machines and likely as an upgrade option to those running Windows 7 or 8, with the trademarking of Windows 365 lending credence to this rumour. The Register had a chance to try and parse the most mysterious part of this new OS, the Windows-as-a-service model and what that will mean for users. Microsoft has explained that when a user buys a device with Windows 10 they will "continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no additional charge." Unfortunately it is not clear what is meant by the 'supported lifetime' nor what happens when that time expires; it is likely that a subscription will need to be renewed or that you will have to get a new device. It is also unclear how this model will work for serial upgraders, in the past you could simply re-license your installation of Windows a finite time before needing to contact Microsoft to ask them to activate your license again.
What we do know for sure for the Enterprise version is that will be several Long Term Servicing contracts, which provide security and critical updates for a 5 year mainstream contract followed by a 5 year extended support contract. There will also be a Current Branch for Business which will receive updates via Windows Update or WSUS after patches have been distributed to consumers and fully tested. To be able to use Windows 10 a company must maintain a subscription for Software Assurance as opposed to being limited to the nebulous "supported lifetime" of their machines.
"Windows chief Terry Myerson proclaimed the advent of Windows-as-a-service at an event last month. But what does that mean? A more recent post from Enterprise and Security Directory Jim Alkove offers some clues."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- 8K display standard renders all your new technology obsolete @ The Inquirer
- Faster Raspberry Pi 2 Says Yes to Ubuntu and Windows, But Where's Android? @ Linux.com
- Helium HDD prices rise way above air-filled spinning rust @ The Register
- Quantum-dot TVs seed a bright future @ Nanotechweb
- Android Patent Dispute: Microsoft, Samsung hug it out @ The Register
- This optical disc will keep your gumble safe for 2,000 YEARS @ The Register
- Tech ARP 2015 Mega Giveaway @ TechARP
I’m fine with Windows as a
I’m fine with Windows as a free service, but if I have to pay then I may as well just stay on Windows 7. To people that are worried about spying/NSA/foilhats, I’d rather get spied on for free than pay for the privilege.
This ‘supported lifetime’
This ‘supported lifetime’ could be until your subscription runs out, it’s such a broad undefinable term “supported lifetime”, and until there is a published terms of service that legally defines just what “supported lifetime” is, well it could mean any degree or manner of lifetime. Careful consideration needs to be taken whenever a big OS/software interest uses the word “Free”, and that switch to 10 may just obsolete the old terms and conditions that existed for 7, and 8.*, leaving the user past the threshold of no going back to the previous licensing, and licenses. The Upgrade itself may be free, but if the “Free” upgrade is to a subscription model, well that undefined and obfuscating statement “supported lifetime” could mean the switch from a totally bought and paid for windows 7, becoming the windows 365, pay to play, every 365 days. Welcome to OSAAS, pay up for the subscription, the switch indeed was free, but the switch to a subscription service requires a renewal, and it’s the renewal that will not be so “Free” after the “supported lifetime” runs out.
7 is the last of the Mohicans, no one wants 8/8.*, and 365 days is just a year, expect the bill to arrive promptly, via the popup when those Windows 365 days expire.
So let me get this straight.
So let me get this straight. If I don’t buy a PC (where the OEM has paid for the Windows license) and build my own, I either have to pay a one-time perpetual licensing fee (like with Win 7/8.x) or, if Microsoft removes the option of a perpetual license, keep paying forever a la Adobe Creative Cloud?
Don’t they know that DIY system builders are the first and most likely to flock to Linux and SteamOS?
“There will also be a Current
“There will also be a Current Branch for Business which will receive updates via Windows Update or WSUS after patches have been distributed to consumers and fully tested.”
So the consumer will be the guinea pigs, happily paying for their subscriptions with the rights to suffer the errors, while the enterprises will have to pay for the advanced notifications of just what the vulnerabilities are, the consumer will have to suck it up, and let the chips fall where they may.
The big gate is closing, and those lured into the garden by the free feedstock will now get corralled into the waiting processing plant past the back gates hidden from view, the sounds of band saws echoing in the distance, changing their timbre as they meet flesh and bone.
Did they not learn anything
Did they not learn anything from the Xbone reveal? I’ll just put SteamOS on my next rig and build a Linux box for online browsing etc…
Get over yourselves MS, your code was never worth what you paid for it to begin with, you have been pilfering the world market for long enough. Time to religate you to the scrap heap of technological history.
I dislike rental software
I dislike rental software very much, with limited money to spend I would hate the regular bills.
With inevitable lets just squeeze them a bit this year as the price creeps up.
We have two PC and a laptop, only one would be essential, we use the others in other rooms as a convenience not a must have,
because the windows licenses are still valid. a cost friendly update to 8 from vista, but that should have been free 🙂
I tried and liked linux mint recently, I could happily use that with a change to my applications.
I’m only tied to Windows because I use Adobe lightroom, a full version for my photography and Photoshop Elements.
I can use this forever and may very well do as long as I can find hardware to run windows that I have.
Others will not be able to use linux as easily as I could and will be forced to use the “365” model.
Lets hope for a reasonable price full license as well for us geek who upgrade.
I must say I would pay for Full Photoshop, but is just an astronomical price for a home user like me, I do not earn a living from it, and rental adds up over a few years to a lot.
I like win 8.1 it works fast and with a bit of set up is good, but I’m not going to rent it or 10 as it will be called soon.
PC Perspective, it’s hard to
PC Perspective, it’s hard to read this page when you’re shining that light and it’s reflected directly into my eyes by all these tin foil hats.
“continue to keep it current
“continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device – at no additional charge.”
this has nothing to do with SAAS. This is specifically to avoid the situation with XP, where support for an ancient OS ended up being far longer than practical due to the difficulty in moving people onto a more modern OS. The change is that instead of buying a device with Windows X, and that device remaining on windows X until you buy Windows X+1 (for the average user, this is never), it means that for the ‘lifetime of the device’ (i.e. device purchase date + support period, which for Windows in the past has been 6 years) updates to Windows X+1, Windows X+2 etc will roll out to the device.
This is also the case with Windows 8 and 8.1.