Microsoft announces Windows 10 subscriptions for enterprise, from $7 per user per month

[tomm]

 

Microsoft has announced details of its new Windows 10 subscriptions for enterprise customers, which will be introduced later this year.

 

From this fall, the company will begin offering Windows 10 Enterprise E3 through its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) network on a subscription basis, priced at $7 per user per month.

There are significant advantages to this - for Microsoft, for its CSP partners, and for their customers. As Microsoft explained today, "CSP partners will be able to provide a subscription to Windows 10 Enterprise Edition as part of a managed service offering, which is ideal for businesses who do not have dedicated IT resources or limited IT staff, and want their licensing and IT needs managed by a trusted and experienced partner."

 

This allows CSP partners to manage their customers' IT needs more efficiently across the organization, from OS to software and services - both on-premises and in the cloud. That in itself brings obvious benefits to the customer, along with the added advantage of more predictable and transparent IT spending for the organization.

 

The monthly subscription model also offers built-in flexibility, by ensuring that companies of all sizes can adapt their IT usage and spending as needed, rather than being saddled with longer-term commitments that might result in unnecessary overspend. It will also help to reduce the intimidating up-front costs that might otherwise put companies off expanding their IT infrastructure, or upgrading to a new OS version.

 

With Microsoft now making it easier for its partners to do more of the hard work of selling Windows 10 to their customers, it creates something of a 'win-win' situation for the company.

It enables Microsoft to support its partner network by integrating them directly into its Windows as a Service delivery channel - thus creating new revenue opportunities for those partners - while it reaps the benefits of more organizations migrating to its new OS on a subscription basis.

 

Source

[vibranium]

In Microsoft's universe, sooner or later every user will be chained to a subscription model.

[Sylence]

So far everything looks good. the Windows as a service subscription is something like pay-as-you-go model which is actually very efficient.

[D1v1n3D]

I honestly don't know of anyone who is willing to pay a monthly fee for windows other then corporations. I have asked a several clients and family members of mine they all said if that happens they will all switch to Apple and I said what about Linux you can put it on any windows pc and it's free and acts a lot like OSx specially Elementary. They all said that sounds better then a monthly payment to use your computer. That is like charging a monthly fee to breathe air or to turn on your TV with free airway broadcasts or to use your vacuum to clean your house on top of electricity. I bet this happens Microsoft's user base will plummet massively which I pray for anyway.

[mikie]

By the time they start charging us monthly apple with have the OSx-pc system ready to roll out the door.

[humble3d]

Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 New Monthly Charge

For months Microsoft has been describing Windows 10 “as a service”  and now we know why.

Microsoft is going to introduce a monthly subscription fee for Windows 10 use… That cost will be $7 per user per month but the good news is it only applies to enterprises, for now.

The new pricing tier will be called “Windows 10 Enterprise E3” and it means Windows has finally joined Office 365 and Azure as a subscription service. Of course the big question is now: How does this new subscription pricing affect the millions of consumers who upgraded to Windows 10 on the promise of it being free?

The good news is Microsoft has gone on record to say it is not being passed down to consumers at this stage:

For months Microsoft has been describing Windows 10 “as a service”  and now we know why. Microsoft is going to introduce a monthly subscription fee for Windows 10 usage…

That cost will be $7 per user per month but the good news is it only applies to enterprises, for now. The new pricing tier will be called “Windows 10 Enterprise E3” and it means Windows has finally joined Office 365 and Azure as a subscription service.

Of course the big question is now: How does this new subscription pricing affect the millions of consumers who upgraded to Windows 10 on the promise of it being free?

The good news is Microsoft has gone on record to say it is not being passed down to consumers at this stage: “This new subscription model is not associated with our current upgrade offering or applicable to the Windows 10 consumer edition,” a Microsoft spokesperson told PC World.

Could Microsoft eventually introduce Windows 10 monthly subscriptions for consumers? Without doubt, but I would be highly sceptical they would apply to anyone who has already upgraded. That said there is likely to be a threshold in future where Microsoft will draw a line in the sand for the ongoing addition of new features without a fee.

Why? Because Microsoft has confirmed on many occasions that Windows 10 is the “last version of Windows” meaning it will be updated on a rolling basis with no Windows 11 to replace it.

Consequently there will have to be a cut off point somewhere, sometime – mostly likely when Microsoft feels Windows 10 is at the ‘Windows 11’ stage of development.

At that point I suspect Microsoft may simplify things and just rename it ‘Windows’. Here is when all Windows pricing could become subscription only given even upfront costs would expire at some point and become a messy marketing exercise.

But in the meantime the rush is on for those who still want to upgrade to Windows 10 while it is free. The window for this closes on July 29th and Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro will then cost $119 and $199 respectively for consumers who didn’t upgrade.

Out of interest at the $7 per month enterprise rate, consumers would get 17 and 28 months use out of Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro respectively.

This isn’t a great deal for Home users and shows a new consumer-focused pricing tier would likely need to be introduced to make it more appealing should Microsoft go down that path in future.

Until then Windows 10 will remain free a little longer and for millions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 users it is make up your mind time…

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2016/07/14/microsoft-confirms-windows-10-new-monthly-charge/?

 

[Batu69]

Thread moved from the chat bar forum & merged.

[Kalju]

Microsoft slaves, it's time to start thinking about what will come next.

[steven36]

On undefined at 5:24 PM, D1v1n3D said:

I honestly don't know of anyone who is willing to pay a monthly fee for windows other then corporations. I have asked a several clients and family members of mine they all said if that happens they will all switch to Apple and I said what about Linux you can put it on any windows pc and it's free and acts a lot like OSx specially Elementary. They all said that sounds better then a monthly payment to use your computer. That is like charging a monthly fee to breathe air or to turn on your TV with free airway broadcasts or to use your vacuum to clean your house on top of electricity. I bet this happens Microsoft's user base will plummet massively which I pray for anyway.

I agree everyone would just buy apple more people would just switch to smartphones  and manufacturers would have to start making computers   with Linux to even sell them, also chrome O/S is working on porting  offline   Android apps . No one is going go out and buy a pc  knowing they have to keep paying for over and over again but large businesses  were they already use rentware and can write it off on there taxes

[Sylence]

Quote

I suggested to my family members ah hey guys, let's switch to linux, they said: hell yeah lets gooo

 

LOL, dude if i'd said the same thing to my family the way you said it to them, then they'd say the same thing. 

if it was that easy and even possible, linux would have more than 2% market share after all these years  

 

please..it's so funny.

[steven36]

By the end of the month there will still be at lest 75% of users not on windows 10 , the consumers will have to pay at lest 119$  to upgrade to it i don't see them doing it if they didn't do it for free already .These people will not make a decision tell they decide to buy a PC . If Microsoft started charging for Windows every month  to home users  you think XP  is bad with millions  of users 2 years latter with no updates   . They would never leave Windows 7 or 8  you can even lock down windows 10 were it want update .

[Sylence]

Windows 7 and 8.1 and all the versions before them weren't free, none of them. this 1 year for Windows 10 was just a bounce. all those who participated made the best decision, all those who didn't if they want they will buy it normally, as they did on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. nothing strange or abnormal here. Lol 

[steven36]

Windows 7 was free to me i got it free for buying a pc wit  Vista on it,  they sent me DVD ,  And most people really never buy windows they buy a PC and windows incl  in the price   most of the masses have never installed a O/S in there life  . I had redo quite a few for people in my day .

[Sylence]

I don't talk about you, why you think we talk about you and then explain your situation every time? i'm talking in general

[steven36]

I don't  know no one who went out and bought  a windows dvd  in real life,  only they buy pcs with windows all ready on it.   but me  and the only reason I bought  it was because  someone stole my DVDs  I just repaired windows with it  and never used the key I called Dell they sent me a new DVD and I sold that one online . some people even pay a little extra for a extended  warranty that will last 3 or 4 years .

[Sylence]

You can always make money by getting laptops for repair and then take their Windows key from the back of them to activate other Windows or get free Windows 10  I'm just sayin..

[steven36]

The only free Windows 10 people will be getting soon will be if they pirate  it , Its always been free to pirates , me I never had to pirate  windows I buy PCs about every 3 years with windows and all my PCs  ether have windows 10  already  but one and it was rolled back but it can be upgraded too it for free .  I pirate some stuff because i'm not rich   just  things like PCs with windows  and few other things i've always bought ..

[Sylence]

Cool..some things really need to be pirated cuz of their ridiculously high prices

[steven36]

I dont look at it like that. if i had the money if i found it useful id buy it . Games are pirated a plenty and there not cheap its like  one of  the only software that still sells ..If you try to charge a big price for software people will laugh at you .   I was reading a post by a cracker they said smart phones  and the cloud  is what happen to cracking . People don't have to buy apps to stream netfilx or watch YouTube   they only buy games anymore  Windows 10 was proof that consumers  want buy software anymore.

[Sylence]

smartphones are full of paid apps. they try to include in-app purchases in every free app as well, Andorid and IOS and Windows phone. honestly nothing is changed except the way the developers charge people with. whether it's Desktop or mobile, there are paid software and apps. Android is the heaven of pirates though. all paid apps have cracked versions and they're always updated and maintained.