Comment Re: I'm sorry (Score 1) 415
PC sales could start to resemble cellphone sales...
PC sales could start to resemble cellphone sales...
It will be no more inconvenient than paying a monthly Netflix fee, antivirus renewal, magazine or newspaper subscription...
People don't seem to find these subscriptions inconvenient, why should an OS subscription fee be a problem?
The vast majority of users of Office use leased copies already - it's called Software Assurance (or Educational Assistance for school students)... Retail Sales represents a significant revenue stream, but I suspect more dollars come in from the various license agreements.
Subscription for updates after first year? Seems a pretty simple model to me.
If you like your three year-old OS that hasn't been patched you can keep it, if you want to keep it current, send us $29/year per system.
Just like countless Anti-virus software vendors do...
OEMs will drop the pre-installs if the software doesn't add value...
They paid frys and best buy to destroy copies of win 7 and office 2010 to force users to run an OS for tablets.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
Rather than have big box retailers physically ship back retail copies of older OS/software, they paid them to destroy them, giving them credit for each destroyed copy. This is how newstands process out-dated magazines and newspapers, they rip off the cover/front page and return that for credit, destroying the magazine for the publisher.
Because consumers are clueless about the subscription model, except, of course, for magazines, newspapers, Netflix, etc., right?
Consumers can handle the subscription model.
If windows break - as it tend to do - use something else.
Uh, no, it doesn't - Windows 7 and 8.1 are very stable products successfully being used the majority of computer users. A few years ago millions of computer users were exposed to Linux for the first time on netbooks, and the vast majority of them asked 'can it run MS Office?' And when the answer came back 'No.' They carefully packed them back up and took them back to the store...
2020 will be the year of Linux!
Windows with Bing is free (as in beer), full capabilities version of Windows 8.1 for low-spec systems.
There is a long tradition of computer users that lease their OS - they are called mainframes.
Are you imagining a current consumer Chromebook will last 5 years?
Will the batteries last that long?
The HP Stream 7, at $100 list price, is a very useful tablet. It only has 1 Gig of RAM, but with a quad-core CPU and flash storage (32 Gigs included, expandable with micro SDXC card) they perform quite well.
AND, they currently ship with 1 yr of Office 365 AND 1 yr of OneDrive storage, up to 1 TB. What does MS charge for a TB of storage for one year in OneDrive?
"That's the nose of the camel, hump to follow"
It sells for a near-ipad price of $300+, about 50% more than it's chromebook peers...
That same $300 can buy a quite-capable a Windows 8.1 with Bing device, which can run regular Windows applications, something a Chromebook can not...
Surface RT costs $200 - about the same as a chromebook.
Ms Office365 is free for educators/students - same price as Google Docs.
MS includes OneDrive cloud storage and email for free - just like Google does.
A prudent school administrator could build an MS-centric environment for the same initial cost as a Google-centric one, and with the same on-going costs.
Choosing Windows 8.1 with Bing devices in-place of the Surface RT would open up the entirety of the PC software world (within reason) for about the same cost as either a Chromebook or a Surface RT deployment.
New York... when civilization falls apart, remember, we were way ahead of you. - David Letterman