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

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Don't think I really need a home PC anymore.
If I had to use one for anything I'd probably use my work machine.

But really, apart from the odd game I don't really need a PC anymore

A lot of people can probably do everything they need from phone / tablet I guess. I generally only see gamers with desktop pcs now and office workers with laptops.
 
Caporegime
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A lot of people can probably do everything they need from phone / tablet I guess. I generally only see gamers with desktop pcs now and office workers with laptops.

My PC is so old now there's no gain in going beyond 1080 gpu. Due to bottlenecking elsewhere.

To replace my PC would cost well over 1k. Probably more towards 2k as every component would need to be bought.


When it dies it dies. I won't be replacing it.
Pcs/consoles/tablets etc are all blurring more and more now.
 
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Doesn’t matter to me I’ve never paid for an os since I started working with tech always worked somewhere that provided kit.

I’ll be on 11 LTSC soon once it comes out next year.
I am the same it's been years since I have had to pay for an OS as well. If I had to do it though I still wouldn't
 
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I will only upgrade from windows 10, IF there's a new DirectX that games/future GPU requires. My gaming rig is literally only built for just that, everything else is done on my macs/ryzentosh.

I do like Linux Mint a fair bit but no linux distro seems to have the polish macos does, and even when I've ran way older versions, I've never had any security/compatability issues with anything I want to install/use. I also absolutely love how flawless time machine backups are/work, so I entrust anything I care about to always be on macos, in nearly 20 years of using it I've never had an issue, unlike windows/linux.
 
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Why do you think it should be free?
Because macOS is? And that's rock solid/never crashes and just works? I have literally left machines on for over a year at a time before without even putting them in sleep, and never had a single issue across multiple machines. Even though I love linux, I've never witnessed that kind of stability/continuity.

Even when I build hackintoshes, once they're setup, they just work, and always have done, I started off with hackintoshes before buying a real mac, even installing 'unsupported' never versions of macos on ancient hardware, still doesn't cause an issue even with the thirdy party scene tools required to do it!

My mid 2008 unibody is still kicking to this day and will happily do a hell of a lot considering it's age. Can't find many windows machines that will do what this will. And I can still put windows/linux on it if I please.

You can legally use 1 'copy' on as many machines as you want. There's not even a serial number.

Even years ago when it was paid for, it cost between £12-36 and just continued to become cheaper and then became free, even then, there was never a serial required... You could legally back in the day even use 1 'copy' for 5 people in your household. Meanwhile MS were releasing what 7 or more versions of vista/7 all with ridiculous pricing?

So yeah, why should be pay when you don't for a clearly more stable/preferred os on another platform? The sheer effort put into linux as well versus being made to sell for profit, and yet even that is still free. So yeah TLDR MS have no excuse, it's just greed and bloatware.

I will only ever use a oem/retail key off a site ever for any Windows vs paying the rip off they want. M$ fall into the same category as the BBC for me...
 
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Soldato
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For me personally depending upon price / features I'd consider a sub model as long as it offers value for money.
Given that I use it everyday for multiple hours for both work / gaming / photo editing, windows is currently the best value piece of software I've never bought. (unless the key I got with my laptop in 2008 is classed as buying it :cry: )

The way I see it, I pay for Prime / Disney / Virgin TV / Xbox Game Pass and use them far far less than I use my Windows installation so from a value proposition Windows has been exceptional. However I'd obviously much prefer to continue on by paying nothing....
 
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I get that point … but for the subscriptions like streaming, I find that they generally work in a streamlined fashion … get in, select, watch, leave.

Windows isn’t really the same and despite the amount of time you spend on it … I struggle to see that even with a subscription that windows wont try to step in and influence you whilst using it in someway.
 
Soldato
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When they move to a subscription, they will make it look good value, bundle it with office. After that they will keep upping the price. I wish Linux had a standard OS build not just a kernel, it would get much better support for drivers and would stand a better chance of displacing Windows. MS knows most will not want to deal with Linux.
 
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Soldato
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They won't go to a subscription model. They already have a subscription model for business customers but for us normal plebs they'll carry on letting them have it minimal cost/free so they can carry on using them as guinea pigs for their paying customers.

People who don't subscribe to Intune are essentially beta testers.
 
Soldato
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I'd agree on the Linux front.. Steam Deck (and Steam OS) has shown me it can just work for games. Otherthings just worked for over 2 decades now
 
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