Mystery file in preview build hints at Windows 10 subscriptions

Winuser said:

I hope that its just my tin foil hat getting the best of me. I have always had the idea that eventually Windows 10 would be free updates and paid upgrades.

Yeah, I'd suspect that eventually, Microsoft will have to charge for upgrades; however, this one will be major, so where will that line start? Maybe after everyone's forgotten that Windows 10 was a free upgrade for a whole year? :)

Dave44 said:

it for Enterprise relax people

Could be, but why would it be there in the consumer version we all have. I have Pro now, but this machine came with Home. I can see that the Pro edition would have it, but is it in the Home version? I no longer have the Home version to check.

We already know that volume licensing applies to Enterprise, and that it's also been for companies with less than 250 employees, so I wouldn't go so far as to say it's for Enterprise only. There could be a new type of volume licensing for those smaller companies on the horizon.

I sure won't be paying for updates.

ARC1020 said:

I don't think Windows as a subscription makes much sense, at least not for the consumer market (business market is a bit different).

Agreed 100%.

ARC1020 said:

Now there's a Store built into Windows, once the store gets up to speed and offers pretty much everything, including proper full-fat software and AAA games, the last thing Microsoft will want to do is have people running for the hills by making them subscribe to use the OS (and they will run, myself included, as I won't use subscription software

So for me, Windows as a subscription makes little sense in consumer land, if anything I can see Windows being pretty heavily subsidised for consumers due to it having a storefront. The one area that Microsoft is strong is the amount of proper full-fat software and AAA games that run on it and as a storefront both Microsoft and software developers will want as many people/wallets in that store as possible.

That would be me passing you up and heading for some form of Linux! :)

ARC1020 said:

I am however still concerned that software developers themselves will try to make their software subscription only (following the likes of Adobe/Autodesk), which could become problematic for those of us who flat out refuse to subscribe to use software. But I'm sure there will always be alternatives as we have already seen with companies such as Serif Affinity using 'No Subscription' as an attractive selling point to gain those unhappy Adobe customers.

The only software I subscribe to is the Microsoft Office Suite, and that only because it makes sense for me to have it on multiple computers and tablets. I have always upgraded Office with each new version anyway, so the subscription is less expensive in the long run.

I will not subscribe to Adobe, nor any other subscription based software as long as there are comparable free programs out there. Nuance just dropped off my list after my second purchase of PaperPort 14 had been installed too many times on the same computer!

swarfega said:

I sure won't be paying for updates.

Neither will I, but at some point, I think Microsoft may be forced to charge for major upgrades.

I could have sworn that FF was the default browser for Linux.

groze said:

Firefox doesn't play protected content in Linux like it does in windows. The Linux version of Firefox doesn't have the primetime content decryption module provided by adobe systems incorporated. The workaround was/is to install the windows version of Firefox & windows version adobe flash plug-in manually using wine. That way you can watch protected content in Linux.

I haven't noticed any issues with Firefox in Linux Mint 17.3.

I also get some sort of Flash plugin updates (not marked as Adobe) on a regular basis.