• ares35
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    1111 months ago

    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.

    • @Perfide@reddthat.com
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      511 months ago

      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.

      • @gammasfor@sh.itjust.works
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        311 months ago

        Not to mention Microsoft’s profits aren’t from the OS but what they get from the user once they have the OS. Once they have the Windows user they then have a market to sell other Microsoft products, not to mention all the stuff on the Windows store.

        They don’t need profits from the OS as the OS pays for itself in the long run.

      • @captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        211 months ago

        And it helps enhance their other products. Your home computer has always come with windows. So your employer buys it for everyone because everyone understands it. Maybe they have you use Mac if you’re an artist or dev. But since you’re on windows you’ll use office, and it might cost you a bit, but they’re more concerned with your employer buying it for you. Hell you probably have office at work even if you’re on mac. And from there each and every new thing they add is part of their ecosystem with all the trust of “it’s from Microsoft, it’ll work”

        It’s easier and more corporate trustworthy to just buy Microsoft and the only thing that can challenge that is if enough people not only don’t use it at home, but actively are worse with it than something else.

        • @msage@programming.dev
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          111 months ago

          FTFY:

          It’s from Microsoft, it’s gonna be much worse than any alternative, it will crash like the economy every time in a critical moment, and your employer won’t let you use anything else.