Microsoft might want to be making Windows 12 a subscription OS, suggests leak
Microsoft might just be planning to make the next generation of Windows a cloud-based, subscription service. While we have already had evidence of the former, fresh new leak hints at the latter too.
Y'all remember when Windows 10 was supposedly their last OS?
🤑
I remember reading about that and it is some subscription fee to get replacements. I always wonder if someone is still paying lol
the last one you "buy", anyway.
That was so hilariously either ignorant or deceitful when they said that.
I reread that quote (in context) many times, and I've concluded that it was a poor choice of words. He meant "latest". He was talking about Windows 10, the latest Windows OS, in a time where XP, 8, 8.1, Vista, and 7 were still maintained to some degree. I wish so much that Win10 would have been the last Windows OS...
now that gaming is getting better on Linux thanks to proton, I am unbothered
Exactly what I was thinking.
Seriously. I've been using Windows for years and every time I've tried to move it's games that stopped me. Proton is literally a game changer. I'm not a hardcore Guild Wars 2 player but I play daily. The game ruins flawlessly with Proton.
Valve 👏
First of all they're going to have to release a distro which actually has, shock horror, proprietary drivers installed on it, because your average user isn't going to understand how to install them.
I've said this a few times but no one wants to hear it, I understand why they can't have proprietary drivers, but the fact that they don't have them is a major reason as to why Linux isn't more mainstream.
I understand why they can’t have proprietary drivers
Who can't have them? 90-some percent of Linux distributions make them available to those who are unfortunate enough to need them.
It's called Linux MInt.
I look forward to welcoming all the new Linux users 🙂
I look forward to all the complaints on how linux isn't like windows. :)
Will you? Do you? To have and to hold? In sickness and in health?
as always, Microsoft is the biggest advertiser of Linux
Apart from the fact that it’s a bullshit headline cobbled together from half truths to tickle your anger glands… sure.
And still Linux is nowhere close to being a usable desktop OS experience. I'd pick Mac over Linux any day.
Linux gives you the ability to be your own system admin.
Most people don't want or need that and have been steadily handing over more and more admin duties of their systems to Microsoft, Apple and Google since smartphones have become widely adopted.
But Linux is totally usable to anyone who had enough admin skills to run Windows XP and not get totally wrecked by malware. It's just a matter of learning.
my only gripe with linux is... gaming. Not the AAA titles which usually run pretty well, the indie games.
they are usually full of small but frustrating issues.
Like for example steam overlay is broken in celeste due to xna/amd bug which makes is frustrating while using big picture mode/gamepadui.
People playground just does not work. at all. immediately crashes with an unknown unity error.
stormworks? random freezes after minifying or switching virtual desktops if running under xwayland
And there's NeoWin again with the Windows 12 clickbaits. This "leak" is just Windows 11 IoT Enterprise Subscription, and there's absolutely nothing nowhere that even mentions the number 12.
Yeah, this seems like the kind of thing they'd try to push on Business/Pro+ users, where management is willing to fork out absurd amounts of money monthly as long as the per-seat price can be vaguely justified. Doing this for home users would just be dumb. Plenty of people would see the monthly subscription and go "eh I don't need a computer, I can just use my phone."
But... But... But... Russian propaganda! Microsoft bad, Linux good!
Y'all really need to actually click the article and read the first sentence. This has nothing to do with Windows 12, and even Neowin has clarified that right at the top in an update.
Microsoft is a bad company, but it's a little worrying when someone can just say some random things in a title and have it be believed without question, just because it paints Microsoft in a negative light.
It's more that MS has leaned into the subscription model with Office 365 and such.
Windows is already kind of a "Freemium" OS, so I'm expecting them to continue in that fashion. Your are right, the article is mostly pointless speculation that was refuted anyways, but I'll admit it sounded a bit off to me anyways. MS wants people to be running Windows, so they can seem then GamePass subscriptions, Office365 subscriptions, and whatever other services they can think of. As such, I expect the core OS to be very free. Just what constitutes core functionality versus Premium features might change.
It is very worrying that they've detained destroyed their reputation so much that any negative news about them is automatically believable.
Let me introduce you to humans; tell them anything and at least one person will believe it. Get enough of them together and you too can have such crazy beliefs as: sky daddy is real and you make him angry, the earth is flat, the earth is a doughnut, the earth is hollow, you have 5g chips inside your body that allow you to be mind controlled, lizard people.
Need I go on?…
They're too smart to do this ...
More likely they will make the base OS free and charge for the premium SaaS features ... like they already do with one drive, O365 and game pass
Yeah that seems like the more likely move, have a free tier that starts off decent and a premium tier with 'power features' or whatever, and then slowly drift almost everything over to the 'premium' tier until in a few years you won't be able to change your desktop wallpaper without paying. That definitely sounds like the MS way to me.
they've already done various low-cost or no-cost (to the oem) windows editions that you can't change wallpaper, or default search engine, stripped out utility programs included in 'regular' editions, and even one that limited multitasking, disabled some network functions, and had hard limits on ram and total disk space.
They may still for enterprise customers.
The year of the linux desktop is coming for real this time...!
Linux usage on pc jumps to 72%
Once Linux figures out a better way to install apps to other drive without causing the user to figure out complex systems it will start closing the gap.
It's called a graphical app store. Most distros meant for desktop usage that come with a desktop GUI have a software store. IIRC KDE's Discover even has Flatpak support which leads to a higher variety of apps.
Otherwise, you can install an AppImage, or just a .deb file if you're running something Debian-based.
90% of all techbro "innovation" is one or more of the following:
"Put it on the cloud!"
"Make it a subscription service!"
"Put it on the blockchain!"
"Add more surveillance!"
You forgot "Use AI"
It's so blatantly in front of me that I was like a fish not noticing water
I love when one of the richest companies on Earth (2nd by market cap, only behind Apple) just doesn't make enough money that they need to consider this bullshit. Fuck this infinite profit growth. This is so fucking stupid. Everything is a god damn subscription. Gotta wring out every penny from our customers as the good Lord intended.
it's getting pretty insane isn't it? more and more obvious to the average person how consumer-unfriendly capitalism is
yes it does seem that way, but have you considered that maybe we should just all give all of our money to Microsoft and then just die of poverty? It would make their reports look so much nicer.
rip windows; thank you valve and proton
Cool, even more reason to stick with 10 as long as I can. Enshitify everything, who even cares anymore?
And you'll still hear "Well I know everything about Windows sucks and now I'm being charged out the ass, but I refuse to even consider switching because [one particular game doesn't work / I'm used to it]"
I was asked why I can't switch to Linux, so I replied listing the software I require Windows for, and then was called a fanboy and downvoted heavily..
It appears that the other guy didn't call you a fanboy. He implied that you might be a troll, before you'd listed that software and after you'd called him a fanboy.
But yeah, it'll probably be a while before there's a Linux version of Adobe Illustrator, and the alternatives are different enough that it'd be a lot of work to switch even if it's otherwise practicable.
Which is dumb. We want adoption, because there's no other way that software will be portrs to Linux. I'm all for a libre base operating system, but I REALLY want some commercial software to be officially supported under Linux.
That Bitwig is supported under Linux is a godsend for beatmakers and producers, but I want Ableton Live on Linux :( and also Affinity Designer. Inkscape is nice, and so is Krita, but there is no serious desktop publishing apps on Linux that focuses on usability AND productivity.
The more users there are though, the bigger the chance is...
So don't listen to those bastard's. A bunch of self-defeatists. May I suggest Vanilla 2.0 when it's finished? :) Then you can try to run some of that software using Wine Bottles...
...which doesn't work for Affinity Designer :(
Remember that these are the same people that used to not think twice about $150 for Windows and Office added to their PC or laptop purchase price.
Will win 7 be the last ever usable OS from Microsoft, or will Windows 13 turn out decent? Only time will tell.
Win 10 was decent, perhaps better than Win 7 in many ways. It doesn't hold a candle to Linux though. I've been almost entirely on Linux since Vista, and the last time I booted into Windows was last year to get Minecraft Bedrock set up for my kid so he could play with his friend (that friend flaked, so we haven't bothered since).
My kids have pretty much only used OpenSUSE Tumbleweed (my Linux flavor of choice) and ChromeOS (at school).
I think we already know. It's not the technology but the business that spoiled everything since Windows 7. Technically, Windows is probably better than ever today. But for user experience it has never been worse.
Now that after two long years Windows 11 exited the alpha stage and now has an usable taskbar in beta, it starts to be decent. Since they finally allowed "never combine" in the taskbar last week I'm using it as my main os and I plan to upgrade all my win 10 machines (unless on older machines because I'm not going to bother with the artificial limitations and install checks, those will just go to Linux)
Personally, the only reason I don't fully switch to Linux is because of the Adobe Suite, but other than that, I would absolutely make the switch. I'm hoping that if this promopts enough people to make the switch, then Adobe will finally make versions of their Programs for Linux.
Realistically wasm gets good enough, that everything starts to become a webapp so that every app is an every os app.
Monkey's paw: now every app becomes subscription based
that would be awesome. i assume youve tried foss alternatives to adobe apps. they arent as good usually (ofc), but still great for most uses imo, unless u are doing stuff proffessionally i suppose
I work professionally with Adobe programs, but quite frankly, it's ridiculous that there's no Linux support. Heck, even Cinema4D and Redshift support Linux.
Maybe just stop using shit products, I don't know.
didn't they say windows 10 was going to be the last version of windows? hence why they jumped to the number 10 as it's nice and round.
I thought they jumped to it because ancient, poorly made software would check for Windows 9* to cover 95 and 98, and could now potentially catch windows 9 as well
Java was one of those poorly made software, but it seems stupid to program a check like that. What's the chance that after Windows 98, Microsoft would release Windows 99? The check should just used the version number. If Windows 95 was 4.0 and Windows 98 was 4.1 should have done the check as "4.*" as a future compatible version could have been 4.2 (win me was 4.9) while one with so many changes that it might need a newer version of the app could have been 5.0 (windows 2000)
I said it was going to by my last version of Windows. Coincidence?
Yes, but they've always been liars.
No the company itself never said it
I'm pretty sure they used 10 because 7 was build 7xxx, 8 was build 8xxx, and 8.1 was 9xxx, making at least the initial versions of 10 10xxx.
IMHO that's a coincidence of the build counter. 7 was 7600, 8 was 9200 and 8.1 was 9600. Then they changed how often they redo a build, so now it's over 23000
But at the time of win 10 release I saw on Twitter a screenshot of a decompiled ancient Java setup that did a check "if Windows 9*"...
Can't find that again
Nice! I've always wanted to try out Linux.
Yeah, please do that. It will be great!
Remember the rumors over 10 years ago that Windows 8 was going to be a subscription OS?
Valve moves SteamOS to the desktop... The only trick would be getting corporate buy in.
I just can't see people standing for ads in their os at best and paying a continual fee at worst.
So is business moving to M365 windows lics no doubt. It's been on the cards for a while.
This is what happens when one part of their business (Game Pass) does well and they want to translate that success to other operations. What they don’t realize is that Windows is less a product and more a service, and you can’t make money on services. Not for long, anyway.
The whole point of this is Microsoft potentially treating windows as a service
Right, but I meant a service in the traditional sense, like trains or food stamps or whatever. Windows is so ubiquitous with operating a PC at this point, and they’ve literally given it away for free for so long at this point that if they start charging a subscription for it nobody’s gonna go along with it. Microsoft’ll be in the same position they are now, but they’ll lose a lot of money implementing this BS.
gonna be great when you can't afford to pay this month and you lose access to your computer
“Might want to be making…”
Weird ass attempt at future perfect tense?
Is it wrong? Definitely awkward, but I've seen this construction before. Not a native speaker...
I think it's probably an Indian English-ism. It's understandable but sounds weird to speakers of American English (and maybe other English dialects).
A more natural sounding title (to an American English speaker) would use "Microsoft is making" or "Microsoft is planning to make" rather than "Microsoft might want to be making".
It's English, so it's difficult to be wrong, but that phrase do be weird.
ChatGPT, make my sentence coherent.
Seems like an odd direction when a lot services are moving online and to SaaS based solutions, removing the dependency of a specific underlying OS.
They definitely want to, this news "leak" is meant to determine if they will.
Since when has windows 11 been deprecated? After windows 7 I switched to Linux and all I hear is new windows is around the corner and even worse! How does this company even keep customers, when all they do is upgrade their windows?!
Microsoft only ever sticks to every other distribution of Windows because those are the ones that suck the least.
XP > good Vista > bad 7 > good 8 > nightmare nightmare nightmare 10 > good 11 > bad
Tho if 12 is subscription based this will change obv.
Honestly I like Windows 11 better than Windows 10. I mean I don't like or use either one, but if I had to I'd go with 11 (with debloat script, Powertoys, WSL2 and blocking telemetry with DNS as much as possible)
This is subjective of course but I prefer both the visual and sound theme of Win11 (I despised Win10 in both regards). Plus it has some additional nice qol features like, I think, tabs in explorer?
Someone once explained to me that Windows is like the Star Trek movies - every other one ia good.
It’s a good idea, so the pain will end and it will die one and for all
And they'll still steal all your data and spy on everything you do!
they've been wanting to do a subscription windows since they did some limited testing of the concept back with win7.
OSAAS, Nope #RUNBSD
I've been enjoying Windows 10 with some of the shite stripped out and will probably be sticking to that for the foreseeable future. Still, cringe.
Anyone got any good reccs for Linux? Preferably something that plays nicely with both laptop and desktop.
I've been running PopOS, and it's been flawless.
I've had a very good experience with Fedora for the past few years, but I've also heard good things about Endeavor OS for an Arch based experience
Pop_OS is where it's at
Like the others say, Linux Mint. If you wanna spend a bunch more time configuring everything and solving issues then you can use other distros like Arch and Debian. For new users though, I suggest Linux Mint.
if your looking for something super beginner friendly, i would reccomend Mint (ubuntu based). if you want something slightly more work to learn, then EndevourOS (arch based, similar to manjaro), because it has Pacman and the Arch User Repository. both have good support and community, and many editions (different desktop environments preconfigured), i would recommend KDE or maybe Cinnamon (better for Mint), though it is not as big of a choice as distro (you can change DEs). KDE has a lot of awesome features out of the box, so its a great choice for beginners
I guess I gotta be the basic removed here.
Try mint, particularly with their own DE, cinnamon. It really is a great overall experience. I've run it on something like five or six different PCs in my own home, plus two laptops. Zero issues in years. Right now, the only thing in the house that isn't running it is my audio PC, because musicbee is a pain to get running on Linux at all.
That's the only downfall for Linux currently. There's no good audio programs that are Linux native. At best, stuff like clementine and similar options are acceptable players, but they're shit at anything else.
My most recent laptop, it was as easy as popping in the usb drive, installing, and putting it to use. But that's a ThinkPad, and they're super Linux friendly. Mint has the important stuff on it to begin with, so unless you need specific programs, you'll be functional faster than with a fresh windows install. Even if you have a handful of other programs you can't live without, you aren't going to run into major issues.
Mind you, any of the other distros mentioned so far are pretty much just as plug n play too, but mint seems to play well with any hardware at all. Plus, cinnamon is such a damn nice DE
Seems possible enough to me, considering what they've done with pretty much everything else
I'd rather subscribe to windows than troubleshooting linux
Sadly this is how I feel too.
the most troubleshooting i've had to do for linux was google and get a stackexchange post and then copy and paste an apt command
![[HN] Microsoft might want to be making Windows 12 a subscription OS, suggests leak](https://radiation.party/pictrs/image/e46b6252-3e9e-483e-b4aa-7696f76e3250.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=196)