Windows 12 May Require a Subscription

Billiam@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 930 points – Windows 12 May Require a Subscription
pcmag.com

[A]n INI configuration file in the Windows Canary channel, discovered by German website Deskmodder, includes references to a "Subscription Edition," "Subscription Type," and a "subscription status."

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Maybe this isn’t for personal editions.

I’d suspect Microsoft would prefer to move personal editions to being mostly perpetual and OEM licenses, while a subscription service for business/enterprise makes more sense. Windows licensing for business is a nightmare and a per-install subscription model could be much simpler to manage while still offering good breaks under Enterprise Agreements and putting license and support under one annual sku.

ETA: Also, worth remembering that “Windows 365” is a thing and it’s very useful for DaaS. Term-based licensing makes tons of sense for DaaS/Cloud Desktop/VDI environments.

And actually, that could make a lot of sense in a future home/personal market with purpose built thin clients. Or perhaps even a set top box. Maybe, even, the Series S. A small monthly/annual fee to to make your Series S into a full-fledged desktop PC, sounds like a hell of a deal to me.

That's IMHO the best scenario we can hope for, though it doesn't seem promising even to pessimists like me.

My updated edit has an even better scenario that I just conjured up. Essentially bringing Windows 365 (cloud desktop) to home thin clients, netbooks, or even STBs like the series S.

The Series S (and its descendants) would be a hell of a versatile system as a cloud desktop with official licensing and support from MS.

It would also give people a reason to actually buy a Series S which can only be a good thing. Currently their market share for the console is basically in the toilet.

As a casual gamer, I like my series S, but mostly because of Gamepass. I don’t tend to replay games after I beat them, so game ownership doesn’t mean much to me.

That has the drawback, though, of needing a lot of storage if I’m working on a few modern high-end games, and the kids have a bunch of games that they want to play, too. The built in storage on the Series S is pathetic. The supplemental storage is confusing as hell and the proprietary drive that you can launch X|S games from is ridiculously expensive. I do really hate having to plan which games I’m going to play (and when) around download and copy times, and balance that against the games that I have currently and want to play.

Now, if the Xbox could easily be paired with a keyboard/mouse/4k display to be a fully-functional desktop computer while still retaining its capability as a current-gen gaming system? Shut up and take my money. What an incredible value add, and MS gets all the sweet sweet telemetry of a family computer.