POLL: Would you pay for a Windows 12 subscription?

GotNoRice · Oct 11, 2023

There is simply no way that I would pay a subscription cost for Windows. For multiple reasons.

The first reason is that subscriptions are a rip-off in most cases. That's why companies are trying so hard to push people onto them. Even a very low-cost subscription like $5 per month would still be $60 per year. If you used that computer for 5 years, that's $300. Just for Windows? Not worth it. And again, that's assuming a $5/month subscription when in all likelihood it would be more like $20/month. That would be $1200 over 5 years which might even be more than the cost of the PC itself. And of course, that's in addition to a potential Office 365 subscription, etc...

The 2nd reason is that this would most likely be per computer. I have lots of computers. In current operation, I have:
My main Gaming PC. (used for Gaming and everything else also while at my desk)
My backup Gaming PC. (on KVM with main gaming PC)
My main Laptop. (faster and used any time I might be gaming with it)
My backup Laptop. (slower but super durable, built like an absolute tank)
My HTPC. (dedicated PC used for viewing Movies in my home theater)
My Music PC. (dedicated PC used for music with my 2-channel stereo, which is separate from the Home theater)

Less used but still relevant:
My workbench PC. (used for cloning drives but sometimes used for other stuff)
My garage Laptop. (used for streaming music or streaming sports games while in the garage)
My RV Laptop. (used for Movies, Music, and other Misc tasks while inside the RV)

So what, would that mean I'd be paying a subscription for 9 different PCs? Yeah... no. Even if they just charged you a flat rate and let you use it on as many PCs as you wanted, and it was only like $5/month, I'd still have trouble justifying it.

I seriously doubt that they would simply try to force a subscription on everyone, but if they did, I'd probably stick with 10/11 as long as I could and/or find "another way" to use Windows.

pparks1 · Oct 11, 2023

GotNoRice said:
The 2nd reason is that this would most likely be per computer. I have lots of computers. In current operation, I have:
My main Gaming PC. (used for Gaming and everything else also while at my desk)
My backup Gaming PC. (on KVM with main gaming PC)
My main Laptop. (faster and used any time I might be gaming with it)
My backup Laptop. (slower but super durable, built like an absolute tank)
My HTPC. (dedicated PC used for viewing Movies in my home theater)
My Music PC. (dedicated PC used for music with my 2-channel stereo, which is separate from the Home theater)

My question is did you buy licenses for all of these computers? I'm leary of the cheapo license key places, and would rather buy my licenses straight from Microsoft. But Windows Professional is $200 a license and I have it running on 4 computers....so yeah $800. Could run a subscription potentially for awhile.

I'm just playing devils advocate and asking the question. I don't necessarily think a subscription is great here. I however do have Office 365 and find it to be an excellent value and worth it to me just for OneDrive.

antspants · Oct 11, 2023

pparks1 said:
I'm just playing devils advocate and asking the question. I don't necessarily think a subscription is great here. I however do have Office 365 and find it to be an excellent value and worth it to me just for OneDrive.

I don’t believe, whether I will or not, that there is anything wrong with paying a subscription for something that is very useful to you. Who knows, if it was reasonable, I would possibly pay, especially if it included Office as a reasonably priced add-on.

GotNoRice · Oct 12, 2023

antspants said:
I don’t believe, whether I will or not, that there is anything wrong with paying a subscription for something that is very useful to you. Who knows, if it was reasonable, I would possibly pay, especially if it included Office as a reasonably priced add-on.

The issue really isn't the subscription, per se. It's essentially a price increase. Because even a small monthly subscription fee will add up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the course of a handful of years.

And it's a pretty big price increase when you consider that Windows is nearly free at this point. Any computer that originally came with a Windows 7 key or newer can be upgraded to 10 or 11 at zero cost. I'm not going to start paying money each month for every computer I use just because some Microsoft corporate tool got a tingle in their pants. In an era of rising inflation, I know I'm not alone in this line of thinking.

And let's be real here. Microsoft's grip on the Desktop OS market isn't what it used to be. While it still holds the largest share of the market, there is a increasing number of people who don't even use a desktop computer as their primary computing device anymore. For many people, just getting a wireless keyboard and mouse for their tablet is fine. Chrome OS is taking-over in many areas also. The last thing Microsoft needs right now is something that pushes people away. I just hope that they are smarter than what these threads would seem to imply.

Scannerman · Oct 12, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
What's all this crap about Licenses?
Life is too short to worry about things like that.

SlicEnDicE · Oct 12, 2023

GotNoRice said:
For many people, just getting a wireless keyboard and mouse for their tablet is fine

Yeah, I currently use my mobile phone more than my PC for many tasks. And I very often plug it into an external display and connect mouse plus keyboard. The experience is actually faster than on my current laptop.

joeldf · Oct 12, 2023

I voted "no", but I don't know if I'd really have a choice.

As an architect (the building construction kind - not the computing/IT kind), all our work is in CAD/Building Information Modeling. While AutoCAD recently began supporting the Mac again after a good 20-some-odd years of skipping it, I haven't used it regularly for production work in almost 15 years. I primarily run Revit now which does not currently run on any other platform. And that's my job.

I'll stick with Win 11 for as long as I can. If MS offers at least a one-time upgrade price, I could do that. I'm already on so many subscriptions (including the MS 365 Family) that it begins to nickle and dime you to death.

flashh4 · Oct 12, 2023

Time for me to move on .....................................

Edwin · Oct 12, 2023

flashh4 said:
Time for me to move on .....................................

You gotta enter your Credit Card number first!!!

Lance1 · Oct 12, 2023

I would opt out. I would go with Linux. Specifically Deepin. TechRadar sets it at #1 in there list saying "Best Debian distro for Windows users" I'm getting used to it in my VM and it's fun to play with. This is the distro I would go. If I had to.

Night Hawk · Oct 18, 2023

antspants said:
To explore @glasskuter’s question; If Microsoft went to a subscription base with Windows Twelve, would you subscribe to still use Windows?

I have set it at 2 votes. I am hoping members will select a yes/no and also a preferred alternative.
Please feel free to rant on about your opinions, explain your alternative and maybe cry a little.

For reference:

As for yes or no at first having the initial look at the next version would be a deciding factor having skipped over 8.0 and 8.1 right into 10 coming up from MS Dos, both 9Xs, XP, Vista, all three editions of 7 and then onto 10 plus now seeing 11. Fortunately with the need to upgrade into a totally new custom build to see the minimum system requirements just for 11 it may take until 12 to get around to the next build!

The platform of course also decides which one or more to go with. You have Android but don't there is also Live cd Linux distros to add into the mix. The desktop platform is now seeing the introduction of the mobile connectivity and with 11 support for mobile apps is coming into play to compete with the market for mobile devices other then Windows Tablets and laptops! You now can run your favorite Smart phone app in Windows as well as bring up your favorite photos taken by the camera in your mobile device for convenience as mobile devices come closer and closer to Windows laptops?!

Linux on the other hand is the Open Source type OS that also sees other types like Solaris also in the same catagory except Linux tools can make for some efficient Windows recovery tools! And 12 would have one other thing being free access to mobile apps that are select freebies since even some mobile apps require subscriptions as well. Unlike the present pay once licensing what would subscriptions bring? Customer Service long after the typical support for each version has been dropped for lifetime support? AS LONG AS YOU ARE SUBSCRIBED THAT IS!

jimbo45 · Oct 18, 2023

If it wern't for Office (mainly EXCEL, PROJECT and POWERPOINT with WORD as a distinct 4th) I would barely use Windows any more. I sometimes do some development on SAP HANA but access again is via the Virtual Desktop infrastructure so no problem with a Linux laptop. I have Windows on a VM when there is no choice but to use a local based Windows app

Now that most of my work gigs are where clients use the cloud a lot more and provide a Virtual desktop infrastructure to their users which can be accessed via Linux, Windows, Macbooks etc my need for Windows locally on a desktop to access work type applications is much reduced.

For databases MariaDB i(Free) and is so much superior to ACCESS, and for an email client Thunderbird (free) is perfectly OK as well. There are a few acceptable clones out there for POWERPOINT and WORD but PROJECT and EXCEL are still by far the most superior applications in their class.

I'm not a gamer - for these Windows still reigns supreme but with modern hardware and ability to pass thru native components such as specialized graphic cards to the VM even that superiority as the primary OS might fade away.

For web sites APACHE / PHP still IMO is far better than IIS and things like wordpress can get your site up and running very quickly.

Cheers
jimbo

Ztruker · Oct 18, 2023

I just bought a new laptop (Surface 5) that came with Windows 11 Home and a Dell Vostro that came with Windows 11 Pro. With my age I probably will not be buying any more new computers, so I will be staying with 11. It has it's quirks and annoyances but is basically a good, stable OS.

Kerro · Oct 25, 2023

kelper said:
I would pay a little, but not more than $2 a month.

One would expect it to be around $10. the same as Adobe charges for PS and LR

JohnnyFire · Oct 25, 2023

MACOS here i come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jimbo45 · Oct 25, 2023

JohnnyFire said:
MACOS here i come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe Back to XP 64 bit edition -- there's still a load of hobbyists out there who have got drivers and a decent SATA (the old XP system on either 32 or 64 bit only had IDE drivers) driver.

I liked XP interface the best of all Windows type OS'es - especially after SP2 (essentially a new version based on W23K server) was released.

If I stick with windows I'll run a legacy version on a VM. I've had it with subscriptions - even if they are as low as 4 USD per month. -- I'd rather give €50 a year to some decent charity -- a proper small local one - not something like OXFAM where the CEO probably earns as much money as a major FTSE-100 (London) or NASDAQ (NYC exchange) company.

Cheers
jimbo

Berton · Oct 25, 2023

TraderGary said:
I'm often surprised by the number of folks on a forum dedicated to Microsoft Windows who apparently don't like Microsoft and don't like Windows.

I got my first computer in '92 with MS-DOS 5/Windows 3.1, retired 2 years later and was offered a part-time job in a computer store and started building computers. I like Windows and have several machines but there's times I can get something done on Linux that I can't do in Windows.

What @jimbo45 said, I, too, have desktops with WinXP, Win7, Win10 and Win11.