Remember when Microsoft said Windows 10 will be the last version of Windows?
Technically it was just a Microsoft Tech Evangelist that said that, in a non official capacity, and I’m pretty sure the sales people took him to the torture chamber after that.
From a technical point of view, there was nothing stopping Microsoft from making Windows 10 a rolling release, so I can see how some naive fools might have convinced themselves that their employer wouldn’t be shitty to their users for the first time ever.
at some point we’ll be renting windows, not buying it. so there will be a “last windows you’ll ever buy”. if microsoft had their way, we’d be at that point now (they’ve run trials on subscription-based windows way back in the early win7 days). but us lowly users are probably ‘safe’ until whatever’s after 12.
I would agree if not for the fact they keep making it easier to get windows for free. I haven’t bought windows in over a decade, activation is easy af, the days of sketchy malware riddled keygens are long gone.
The truth is worse, imo. They don’t need individual consumers to pay for the OS, OEM licenses are where they make bank anyways. At the consumer level, you’re never gonna sell enough copies, even on a subscription model, to profit more than you would be from giving it away for free, getting everyone using it, and then simply selling their data until the end of time.
The Microsoft thing to do is start using Xbox naming, but offset from the Xbox brand. Windows 360. Then Windows Series S for home users and Series X for corporate. Then use Windows One for confusion’s sake. The first service pack can be called Windows One X.
I used to like picking up old hardware and modding it for fun. When Xbox One launched, searching for mods for the OG Xbox became really annoying, because all of the old forum posts during the Xbox 360 decade(s) called the first Xbox “Xbox 1” frequently, not dreaming that the third platform would be named “one”.
