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

I can seen Chrome OS taking a hold possibly. Win 11 is now full of features no ******* wants apart from MS devs and product managers trying to justify their own positions.
 
mushtafa said:
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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If I were Microsoft, I would consider different approaches where:

A free version has all the tracking and in-OS advertising,

A "normal" version (with the same one-time cost as now)has the tracking but no advertising.

An expensive version (one time payment of ~$300+) comes with no adds or tracking and x-years of updates and support.
 
I can't see it happening myself but if it did I would move my gaming rig over to linux. I use it already on my laptop and i'm generally quite happy with it.

My parents would have no choice, they would have to stay on win11 for as long as possible and then pay. I'd encourage my wife to buy a mac for her next laptop, and my daughter uses a chromebook already.
 
I'd pay a premium for a non tracking and ads version.

If I could get my audio setup working on linux then I'd be on Linux for day to day right now. Neural DSP being the big one that's holding me back right now.
 
Twinz said:
If I were Microsoft, I would consider different approaches where:

A free version has all the tracking and in-OS advertising,

A "normal" version (with the same one-time cost as now)has the tracking but no advertising.

An expensive version (one time payment of ~$300+) comes with no adds or tracking and x-years of updates and support.
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Or just do the Professional edition as something for power users with proper control over that stuff - I don't mind paying professional edition prices - currently it is of quite limited use over home in many cases other than when you need certain business functionality.

As a poster above remarked they seem to spend a lot of time trying to push features no one has ever asked for or has a use for, at least in the form they are shovelled out the door, while ignoring the stuff people are asking for if it doesn't fit with what they want to see, or very slow on other stuff people have asked for like putting never combine back in (personally don't use it but still). Also prioritising that stuff often over fixing issues and/or enhancing the basic features of the OS.

The OS development is a complete clown circus and the current developers are poor curators of the Windows experience - they can't even manage to implement a compelling store functionality.
 
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ill stick with windows 11, then move to Mac/Linux been debating it for last few years, only thing holding me to Windows is quick easy to go gaming experience, if they add a subscription then ill just go cloud gaming or Move to fully mac/Linux & go console OR have windows 11 ofline for gaming & Mac/linux for everything else
 
Rainmaker said:
Have you tried Pop!_OS and Fedora? Both are historically very good for battery life, on par with Windows.
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Never used Fedora, but tried Pop! once. I had tried Pop! on a desktop but had some issues (on a desktop) and just went back to Mint.
Next holiday phase at work I'll give both a go on the laptop and see how they go.
 
www.theregister.com

Intel stock stumbles on report Nvidia building CPUs for PCs

AMD also said to be working on an Arm-based PC chip
www.theregister.com www.theregister.com

Citing unnamed sources, Reuters reports that Nvidia has quietly begun designing CPUs based on an Arm architecture specifically to run Windows. The development is apparently part of a broader effort by Microsoft to expand the operating system onto more Arm-based systems once its exclusivity agreement with Qualcomm apparently lapses next year.
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I've been dual booting for a while between Ubuntu and Windows 11. I am taking my time to learn linux more and more so that if Windows 12 ends up being **** and I cannot make it work how I want it to work then I will stay on Windows 11 as long as I can before shifting to linux. Thankfully all my games are linux compatible so thats not the issue
 
It amazes me that people expect to get stuff for free. As much as MS has it's faults, and many of them, what is wrong with any company trying to recoup it's costs and make a profit from all the investment they have to make in developing a platform.

The majority of software vendors are moving or have moved to a subscription model. If you made a product would you be happy to give it away for free. it's not a sustainable business model.
 
Move to Linux

Only reason I am still on windows is I can't for the life of me to to get drop box and YNAB to work.

So would need to look for a Linux home account software. (Yes I know I could use a spreadsheet but can't import downloaded ofx easily)
 
Pooh said:
It amazes me that people expect to get stuff for free. As much as MS has it's faults, and many of them, what is wrong with any company trying to recoup it's costs and make a profit from all the investment they have to make in developing a platform.

The majority of software vendors are moving or have moved to a subscription model. If you made a product would you be happy to give it away for free. it's not a sustainable business model.
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I have no issues paying for an OS when it comes out for Home\Pro\OEM\Retail licenses etc

My issue is paying a monthly subscription for an OS
 
Although the original article has been updated to say it won't be a subscription model, it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft tried to go down this route in the future.

Can you imagine buying a new computer only to be told you need to pay x a month to use it properly? Most home users don't like paying for Office, I can't see them paying for the OS.
 
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