Renzatic on 2/8/2015 at 01:28
Quote Posted by heywood
Microsoft has made billions selling new Windows versions to people with existing computers, and for now at least they are not charging for it. They might start charging later... maybe, but odds are that most people will have already upgraded by then. Also, the release of a new Windows version traditionally drives a spike in new PC sales, and analysts are not predicting that to happen this time because the free upgrade will cannibalize sales.
So why does Microsoft want home users to switch to 10 so badly they're giving up their bread & butter revenue stream for now? They have to be monetizing it somehow.
The only thing they're giving away, and this only for the moment, are upgrade licenses. OEMs are still paying MS so much money to slap Windows 10 on one of their machines, and you still have to pay MS for a new copy if you go out and build a new machine yourself (unless you're sneaky, and install Win8 on it before taking advantage of the free upgrade like I did :D). They've lost a little bit of money, yeah, but their upgrade revenue makes up only a fraction of the Windows bottom line. Only we true hardcore tech nerds do the upgrade thing regularly. Most everyone else sticks with what they've got until they go out and buy a new PC. So they're sacrificing a little bit to get everyone onto a common platform, while still getting money from their major cash cows like Dell, HP, Lenovo, ect.
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
They have that market on such hard lockdown that the hippy daydream of Linux becoming having any sort of legitimate popularity will never happen.
I dunno. I wouldn't be surprised if SteamOS carves out a nice little niche for itself. If and when it does, it'll makes Linux look good by association. It won't ever overtake Windows, but it could put a dent in its marketshare.
heywood on 2/8/2015 at 02:18
Enterprise customers are irrelevant to this because the upgrade offer doesn't apply to them. Different market, different revenue stream.
If you guys want to believe that MS are giving away Windows 10 to home users out of the goodness of their hearts or because they're sorry about Win 8 or just because Apple does, well ... think what you want to think I guess.
Renzatic on 2/8/2015 at 02:31
Quote Posted by heywood
Enterprise customers are irrelevant to this because the upgrade offer doesn't apply to them. Different market, different revenue stream.
I'm not talking about enterprise. Never mentioned it once.
Quote:
If you guys want to believe that MS are giving away Windows 10 to home users out of the goodness of their hearts or because they're sorry about Win 8 or just because Apple does, well ... think what you want to think I guess.
I'm not saying that, either. What I'm saying is that they're not losing much money by giving away the upgrade. They're cutting maybe 10% off their bottom line. The whole advertising hoopla isn't a way to make up their losses, it's just another revenue stream. In the end, MS is making money off Win10 the same way they always have, minus one.
Tony_Tarantula on 2/8/2015 at 02:31
Quote Posted by Renzatic
They're not offering it for free. They're giving everyone a temporary deal to get in on some Windows 10 action. But once it's passed, or if you buy a new computer, you'll be buying Windows same as always.
Though the whole hoolabaloo over MS SPYING is much ado about nothing. Yeah, things like this should always be opt-in rather than opt-out, but it can all be disabled easily enough.
About that....Microsoft offers the NSA back-door access to their servers:
Inline Image:
https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/prism-slide-5.jpgAnyway though I am curious about performance. I do have a secondary laptop where security isn't a concern because I do all of jack shit on it except for school assignments, but said laptop is a badly underpowered ultra-portable. If I drop the performance down lower it's going to become useless for its purposes.
Renzatic on 2/8/2015 at 02:56
Quote Posted by Tony_Tarantula
About that....Microsoft offers the NSA back-door access to their servers
Everyone does, because they're legally obligated to comply when asked. It doesn't matter where you go or what you use, because at some point, you're going to be using a service that's kowtowing to the NSA.
And that, moreso than who did what and when, is what you should be worried about.
EvaUnit02 on 2/8/2015 at 03:11
Quote Posted by heywood
Enterprise customers are irrelevant to this because the upgrade offer doesn't apply to them. Different market, different revenue stream.
If you guys want to believe that MS are giving away Windows 10 to home users out of the goodness of their hearts or because they're sorry about Win 8 or just because Apple does, well ... think what you want to think I guess.
Work on your reading comprehension skills. My point was MS taking a hit in the home consumer for marketing purposes is nothing to them because that's not their primary revenue stream.
The "connectivity" of Windows 10 is no different than 8, which had the same privacy opt-out features. Take off your tinfoil hat and consider more rational theories for wanting to have a large install base for Win10. Having more people on the "latest and greatest" means that there's potentially less "weak links" in the security chain. There's always some computer illiterate Baby Boomer who doesn't install critical updates. Remember the height of the XP era where there'd be a highly publicised virus/trojan epidemic seemingly every couple years? Forced upgrades in Win10 Home Edition are there for a good fucking reason. The masses are idiots and having choice taken away from them in that particular matter is for their own benefit. It's the same logic why DirectX/Visual C++ runtime installation is forced upon first time boot-up of a lot of Steam games.
Quote Posted by Tony_Tarantula
About that....Microsoft offers the NSA back-door access to their servers:
I've told you this before, you've got delusions of grandeur if you really think an international spy agency will give two fucks about your personal Pornhub viewing habits or of those of any other Joe Average sitting in their home upon their asses.
Vae on 2/8/2015 at 03:37
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Forced upgrades in Win10 Home Edition are there for a good fucking reason. The masses are idiots and having choice taken away from them in that particular matter is for their own benefit.
Although it is true that most people haven't a clue, the better solution is to have automatic updating on by
default for Win10 Home. That way, there will be the option to defer or ignore certain updates, if found in the hands of one so technically inclined...while at same time, feeding the uneducated what they need.
Vae on 2/8/2015 at 04:59
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Upgrades can be deferred in the Win10 Pro Edition or higher.
Of course
updates can be deferred in the Pro version...yet, one ought not be forced to
upgrade to the Pro edition simply due to an unreasonably restricting design choice.
Quote:
I'm sorry if you're upgrading from 7, but whatever reason for NOT wanting the latest features for your OS added in Service Packs is probably daft anyway.
It's about a reasonable level of freedom of choice...and the solution I've suggested fulfills both ends.
I have a number of Windows machines in my studio, and my concern is not for myself, but for the greater good of the situation.
faetal on 2/8/2015 at 08:24
I'd say that the most obvious (by Ockham's razor) probability here is that MS believe they have made their best ever OS and want to bump their market share by getting as many people using it (and talking about it) as possible. It's a loss-leader, one of the most established marketing tricks in the book.
