What Will You Do If Windows 12 Isn't Free?

Soldato
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Paid £63.99 for the Win7 Retail in 2009 and still using the same license.

If the license was £5 a year, maybe, but you can guarantee it would be more like £7.99 per month, which I think is the O365 price.
 
Associate
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It probably does totally depend on the price, but I imagine it will be far more expensive than a few quid a year. How long will windows 11 be supported? What will 12 actually bring?
 

SPG

SPG

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I would say Linux but everytime i try it no matter the flavour i end up having to do something that I have found on the internet that I have no idea what it does or how it does but just does and it bothers as no explanation.

Also typing is for forums and sudo//xxxx.xx/xxx/xxx/xxxx/xxxx //xxx/xx/xxxx D:/xxxxx xxxxx :) is horrible

I really hate linux and typing give me a control panel and tick boxes win 7 FTW.
 
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I'm pretty sure that Win11 only came out in late 2021 or early 2022? Microsoft tends to support each Windows version for 6 years, so there are still a few years left with Win11. Plus, some on this thread are still using Win10 which is still perfectly decent (I prefer Win11 though).

If Win12 was on a subs based model, then I think something like £50 or £60 a year would be reasonable, up to 3 devices, like some of the MS Office licenses. It means that if you had a desktop + laptop, the license would cover both devices.
 
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The trouble I can sees having is that they'd just lose the younger generation, who they already are due to smart phones. They'd make even less reason for youth to own a Microsoft device and pay the sub, and then as they learn to live without windows, it reduces the likelihood of them ever even trying it due to the cost. Then it'll just be the old adults the stick with it, each year getting older and older and slowly dying off, and the future use something else.

If not for work, I know very very few people that use a desktop pc, a small amount have laptops but haven't switched them on in ages.

Imagine telling those users they need to pay £7 per month to have the operating system.

Ms could easily now bundle xbox game pass, Microsoft Office, and windows os into one £10-£15 per month cost, perhaps £20 p/M for a family plan getting 5-10 devices or something.

When I was a kid, my parents bought us all a pc one year, 6 kids a brand new pc, was crazy but we were lucky as it got us ahead and learning young. I can't image telling those parents, on top of buying the pc, you have to pay £35 per month just for the operating system.

With that said, maybe there will be a completely free bare bones home version
 
Soldato
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Paid operating system - yes please.
Subscription - no, but a one off like back in the day - that'll be fine.
If it's offered for free, they're making money off you some other way - trackers, data, advertising etc etc
 
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When I was a kid, my parents bought us all a pc one year, 6 kids a brand new pc, was crazy but we were lucky as it got us ahead and learning young. I can't image telling those parents, on top of buying the pc, you have to pay £35 per month just for the operating system.
Back in the day when life was simple with the ZX Spectrum.:cry:
 
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Soldato
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Im already on Debian 11 Linux and Win11.

If it turns out to be subscription based (which i highly doubt it will be) then ill just stick with Win11 and eventually move to Linux permanently.


I got a feeling Win12 will be subscription based on certain aspects but the base windows 12 will be either one time payment or free.
 
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I'd have to see what 12 offers and what the sub is including, my guess is that you will be paying for AI features, we'll have to see what the those AI features are. If 12 includes the O365 sub then I'm okay with that, but I can also see MS having different tiers to choose from.
 
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I got a feeling Win12 will be subscription based on certain aspects but the base windows 12 will be either one time payment or free.
yeah surely it has to be a sub version and a free/one time pay option.

one thing to not forget is businesses, they wont move to linux, so will stump up the cost whatever it is. 100 computer for £250 per month seems fairly reasonable and could easily be sold as now their pcs will always be up to date with the latest and safest version of windows.
 
Soldato
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The Steam Deck gives me hope that there will be an alternative OS that's good for gamaing by the time W11 goes EOL. (I'm staying on 10 as long as can)

I could see eventually using a random Linux distro for day to day stuff and some sort of gaming-focused OS for gaming. (I know Steam is also building their stuff on Linux)
 
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