Microsoft as a Subscription?

We will have to wait and see what all this really means....

On the cloud subscription model: "We're well on our way to making that transition in terms of moving from pure licenses to long-term contracts and as well as subscription business model," Nadella told analysts. But he didn't share anything new about when, whether and how Microsoft will move to a subscription model for Windows, as some are expecting.

Source

Also,,,,

WZor also claims that Microsoft is tinkering with the business model for Windows and may make some kind of base-level version of Windows available for free for everyone, but require a subscription to "turn on" the full set of capabilities and features, similar to the way Microsoft requires Office on iPad users to have an Office 365 subscription to do more than just the simplest of tasks with the free version. I haven't heard anything specifically about this from my contacts (yet).

Source

For the record, I voted maybe.

 

[labeeman]

Yes, Great idea, could make things a bit cheaper in the long run but only if M$ pays for fiber to my home other wise
No, horrible idea, WTH are they thinking?

 

[Edwin]

Might as well, the PC, ("Personal Computer"), as we used to know it is rapidly becoming a thing of the past anyway!

 

[Rxd]

It will be great for Apple and Linux if Microsoft goes subscription...

 

[Tepid]

This is not a cloud based system model, this is a subscription based model, much like Office 365, while Subscription, is installed locally on the System.

Please do not confuse the 2, they are completely different.

 

[Coke Robot]

I love how everyone AUTOMATICALLY assumes it will be Windows as a cloud OS. It is not, it'll be Windows that requires a yearly or biyearly renewal with the possibility of allowing OEMs to offer add-on services to differentiate from competitors, like 100 gigs of OneDrive storage included in the price versus a different OEM not offering it.

Office 365 does the same thing, it just requires an annual renewal of licensing to fully use features. You can still use it to read documents if it's expired, but can't edit.

ALL anti-virus software does this. You pay for one year and one year only. If you don't renew it, you chance getting STDs.

But Windows as a subscription is more than anything going to be an option, not mandatory for the foreseeable future. Again, Office 365 exists and Office 2013 exists. You can do either or to whatever best suits your needs. This is probably going to be more preferable for enterprises for sure as it means reduced initial licensing fees, and if it works like Office 365, new versions available of Windows that can be installed without licensing issues. This could also entail thin clients to be used, or reusing dead and ancient hardware with the latest of Windows. This could also allow enterprises to run their old software in a virtualized environment without added IT support, cost, and frustration.

Some people might want to install Windows as a subscription. Office 365's cost is 100 dollars US per year with about 25 gigs of OneDrive storage and support for five PCs or devices. The suite equivalent is Office 2013 Pro Plus, which runs about 500 dollars for ONE PC only and no added OneDrive storage. If Windows had that option, it could be perhaps a 50 dollar a year subscription for three PCs and added OneDrive storage and/or Xbox Music Pass. It's more Windows, for less the cost of individual licensing, with added benefits, and always up to date.

Instead of freaking out that Microsoft is taking your PC away like mad curmudgeons, maybe it would be better to read into some possible context from the other perspective. Unless if you're a fan of pirating Windows, this may worry you. If you're a fan of having options, this is alright. If you have issues with annual renewal costs, this might not be what you want.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Might as well go subscription. They're turning over these OSs faster than you could build highrise lately.

Teed me off that I bought 8 Pro disk then turn around a year later only to release 8.1 via the Store. There my disk sits collecting dust. Hopefully one of my grandchildren might appreciate it some day.

 

[ARC1020]

Absolutely not, I absolutely despise the idea of subscription software, cloud-based or not, and in my eyes is more like a racket. Keep paying us money, or we'll kill your software. And on the side subject of Clouds, although off-topic slightly, no matter how much they keep pushing it there's no way I'd be prepared to hand over control of data to cloud services either (and it certainly isn't helped by the US legal system).

There's a reason why software companies are pushing the idea of subscription software and it's purely because they will make more profit from it (and therefore more money out of my pocket) otherwise they wouldn't be pushing the idea. I've already thought about it quite a bit with Adobe going subscription based and subscription software is not something I'm willing to spend one single penny on. To the point where I have no idea what I will do when I can no longer install Photoshop anymore, because there's no way I will subscribe to Creative Cloud. I think maybe I'll just have a desktop computer setup, not connected to the internet, running all my legacy non-subscription software indefinitely.

 

[Rxd]

I agree. Subscription is only a way to squeeze more money out of you. Companies don't do what's good for YOU, they do what's good for THEM.

 

[Tepid]

Actually, if you look at it from their perspective and your own,,,

Let's take Office 2013 as an example.
Many people (read that as majority) can only afford one license for the entire household.

Compare the prices here and it will tell you everything you need to know....

Amazon.com: office 2013

you can not beat the price of Office 365, sorry, you can't, especially if you
have multiple devices that you would like to have office running on.

So, in the long run,, Office 365 is WAY WAY Cheaper than buying a single use license.

Granted, if you only have 1 PC that you want Office 2013 on, then it could be cheaper,
depending on if you want to upgrade later when a new version comes out, then still Office 365 can be cheaper.

So, if you look at the overall scheme, and they run it cheap enough,, yes, they will make more money, but you will also save more.

Granted, you can use what you got, so, if Office 2003 is still working for you, great. But is it?
Probably not. Depending on what you need.

There is indeed a place for this. Especially if Windows base shell is free.

While cloud is in the mix, so to speak,,.,,
Again, this is not Cloud stuff. Don't confuse the issue with cloud.

It will more than likely be on the same model and Office 365. Guessing here,,, Speculation and all that....

Install Windows Pro on 5 devices for $99 a year, and get 10G of OneDrive and 60 Skype Min.
Add Media Center for an addition $10 a year, Add Office for an Additional $20 a year for up to 5 devices.

If you add that up and break it down,,,
that is a hell of a lot cheaper than what you have paid over the last 5 years if you upgraded things.

How many times have you paid for XP? if you ever bought an OEM Desktop or Laptop, you probably paid about $100 per copy of XP.
How many times did you do that over the last 10 years?

The economics are there for it to be beneficial for everyone., depending on how they model it.

Keep in mind, my answer is Maybe.

 

[Rickkins]

No.

 

[pparks1]

Arc1020. Out of curiosity, did you actually pay for the Adobe software packages that you are running? I've talked to a lot of people who have hacked copies of Photoshop complaining about subscriptions. Same goes for Office 2013.

These plans don't always entail the vendor making guaranteed more money, but it gives them a dependable revenue stream, unlike what they have now with Office where every few years they release a new version and sell a lot and then slow way down for a period of time. I work for a company that sells software on a subscription basis and has for over 10 years. People pay for only what they need and for when they need it. We are priced extremely affordable compared to our competition therefore with the better product we sell quite a few of these subscriptions.

Office 365 is a bargain if you need more than 1 copy of office with outlook or greater. Office pro is like $400 per copy. If you buy office 365 at $99 a year, keep 2 copies for yourself and sell 3 of your copies to friends and families for $60 a year, your cost would be $40 a year instead of $800. At this rate, you could "rent"the software for 20 years before you hit that initial $800 investment you would have had originally. And if 2 years in, Office 2013 is replaced by some other whiz bang technology, you can cancel your stuff and only be out the $40/yr for the 2 copies you needed.

It's hard to not see value here in 365. unless of course, you weren't paying anything for your current installs of Office.

 

[Hewjr100]

So **** em' all big and small

 

[whs]

Depends. Office 365 seems to be quite successful. So there must be some attractive features.

 

[pparks1]

Depends. Office 365 seems to be quite successful. So there must be some attractive features.

Let's see,

• It's a $400 piece of software for 1 PC/ 1 User: Amazon.com: Microsoft Office Professional 2013 (1PC/1User) [Download]: Software
• You get 5 copies that you can install
• You can share your subscription with 4 other people (if you want)
• It's only $99 a year.

 

[Dorlan2001]

I agree to this model only if Microsoft creates a Windows version with bi-annual subscription and another with the well-known licenses. For large corporations it makes a lot of sense to move on to a subscription model for the OS, but that wouldn't be the case for home users (like me for example). I only own one PC, and I don't plan to buy another in some time, so licenses makes more sense to me rather than buying a subscription and spend lots of money annually or I will lose everything on my PC. Actually it is better a license for OS Virtualization...

Subscription will work well with the Enterprise version of Windows (and will likely stop piracy of this software) but for the Core version, no thanks... license is better. Also, if I am going to buy a PC, license is the best option for it!

 

[McRuff]

Depends. Office 365 seems to be quite successful. So there must be some attractive features.

Let's see,

• It's a $400 piece of software for 1 PC/ 1 User: Amazon.com: Microsoft Office Professional 2013 (1PC/1User) [Download]: Software
• You get 5 copies that you can install
• You can share your subscription with 4 other people (if you want)
• It's only $99 a year.

Don't forget that prior to the subscription model from Microsoft you could get a 3 user copy of Home and Student 2010 for about the same or less money than it now costs for the single user/device version of 2013. That increase in price for the purchased version has made the subscription appear more attractive.

I am sure the retail cost of Windows would likewise go up to make a subscription appear attractive.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there.

I HATE Monthly "Anythings" whether it's Mortgages, Loans, cable TV etc etc. I've always been one to pay up Front and then forget it -- that way as I get older and my income decreases (as you start to live on Pensions etc) then I want as minimum possible going out of my budget on "monthly outgoings" and I know what I can spend. (Even my House - I was lucky enough to pay Cash for it -- now it's great that I don't have to pay often around 1000 - 2000 USD a month FOR EVER on something that I don't own and money that goes into someone else's pocket. - When you get to Pension age having to pay that sort of money out as Rent is a large chunk and a TOTAL WASTE !!!!.

I don't mind paying for "Service consumption" like Utility bills, TV / movie subscription services etc because that's CONSUMPTION for services being used -- same as going into a supermarket and buying food.

I could see the point of short term Leasing of a Car for example - it's cheaper than renting one (by far usually) and if you only want it for a few months (example work assignments away from Home) then that type of service makes sense.

I don't see an OS though as a "Consumption" item -- I might install it and it could be good for 7 or 8 years -- look at XP for example - and you can rest assured that a company will only introduce this type of model if it thinks it will make MORE money than by using the existing model.

In any case for things like OFFICE 365 most Govts add taxes on (VAT etc) so you can never be quite sure how much it will cost. In parts of Europe that's a wallet busting 20% so @Pparks1 your subscription price you quote there has to be increased by another 20%.

If Windows does go fully subscription I won't buy into it -- I'll just run my current Windows as VM's (which I do anyway) on a Linux distro Host (free) and if security becomes a problem just use Linux for the Internet - there are plenty of decent browsers -- Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Konqueror to name but a few.

Adobe has done the same for Photoshop -- so a lot of people including me are sticking with CS6 - and also remember THE GIMP is improving to the state now that unless you need some of the really "pro" features of Photoshop (I do BTW) the GIMP is a very passable alternative.

Older Ms Office documents aren't going away either -- I can see Ms Office 2010 working for a LONG time yet.

Windows Subscription -- no I'm OUT.

BTW Home / Student editions of Ms Office 2007 / 2010 valid on 3 machines - around 80 USD if my memory is correct - and Enterprise Use at Home editions were either Free or you paid around 5 USD for the physical DVD medium.

If it all goes subscription I'm sure the Pirating fraternity will hack some method of activating it -- so it might not be as profitable for Ms as they think -- and who wants a computer that regularly has to "Phone Home" to make sure the activation is valid and the subscription OK -- I have a couple of Machines that I NEVER use on the Internet.

For BUSINESSES though subscription is fine -- guarantees up to date software / maintenance etc etc - and ensures users can't pirate the company's software. I'm assuming that this thread is directed to HOME / INDIVIDUAL users rather than a BUSINESS.

(Also in most tax dominions Businesses can claim tax DEDUCTIONS for these types of services -- HOME users can't).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[nonono]

And i bet you will get some creepy ads in the middle of your documents But all this going online thing is being created not for good things.

 

[4wd]

All in the cloud, sooner or later something about every document, spreadsheet etc being read by MS (similar to email practices > Yahoo, Google and Apple also claim right to read user emails | Technology | theguardian.com), in reality giving away rights and ownership of the whole soup, & used for 'better user experience' (targeted advertising etc). Anyway, probably just the direction the world evolves, for good or for bad. Probably bad IMO.