Microsoft Treading on Thin Ice with Windows 10 Paid Subscriptions

[steven36]

If you have been reading my previous articles on Microsoft (MFST), you may have noticed that I am a big fan of the company and a even bigger fan of CEO Satya Nadella. He had the courage to steer the company from being an all-about-Windows company towards one that 'also owns' Windows. I have been recommending the stock since it took a short plunge to under $50 back in February.

 

What impressed me the most was how the company decided to dump its smartphone dreams and create a company that kept its focus on cloud and mobile initiatives.

But on the Windows front, not all is well for Microsoft.

The Windows 10 Conundrum
 

Ever since Microsoft announced its decision to end free upgrades for its Windows 10 in July, the company has been receiving flak from all over, and the anger is justifiable. No other company charges for the use of an operating system. Apple's (AAPL) OS X for Mac and iOS for mobile devices have always been free, although one could argue that its cost is priced into the device itself. Google (GOOGL) doesn't charge for Chrome or Android. In fact, if you look around you won't find a single operating system - mobile or otherwise - that asks consumers to pay.

Microsoft is the only company that still wants to charge users for using its operating system, Windows 10. Unfortunately for the company, that is how it made billions when it was busy getting a PC into every home. The pre-loaded Windows operating systems of the time were free for consumers, yes, but Windows was making money hand over fist with the OEM licenses. That is why we are seeing the decline in that segment when they report their quarterlies. I have discussed this in a recent article entitled What to Expect from Microsoft beyond 2016 :

"Over the past quarter, you will see they are showing positive growth for both OEM and volume licensing, but that is only relative compared to the year before when they incurred heavy losses in both sub-segments. The nearly $3 billion dip in segment revenues for the year shows that recovery is still a few quarters away."

Whether or not the sale of PCs around the world stabilizes or goes down further, Microsoft Windows OEM is going to take a long time to recover. But the real change is how mobile devices are proliferating around the world. Smartphone sales growth might have slowed down, but the market potential is still huge.

But, Microsoft is going about it the right way. With Windows 10 essentially being a cross-platform operating system, the company now emphasizes the continuum philosophy where a phone or tablet can easily switch roles with a personal computer.

Quote

"One of Microsoft's big announcements at its Build developers conference last week was the ability to turn a smartphone running Windows 10 into a PC. Dubbed Continuum for Phones, it's designed to take advantage of new universal apps that run across Windows 10 on phones, PCs, tablets, and the Xbox One. If you're running a mobile version of Excel on your phone it will magically resize and transform into a keyboard- and mouse-friendly version for use on a bigger screen. It feels like the future." - Verge

The whole idea was to blur the difference between devices through the power of software, which means there is a single operating system that covers the entire breadth of devices, from desktops and laptops to tablets and smartphones.

The universal apps being developed on the Universal Windows Platform will be able to run on any device that is powered by Windows 10. It is part of Microsoft's strategy to lure developers back to the world of WIndows - the same developers who deserted the company after it lost the smartphone battle against Apple and Google. To that end, Microsoft bought Xamarin, a cross-OS development platform that will eventually give them a rich collection of Windows universal apps. And they are doing it by accepting iOS and Android as rulers of the mobile OS domain, which is why these apps will work on all three operating systems.

Source:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-treading-thin-ice-windows-203542790.html

[eurobyn]

you can still do a clean install and activate it for free ! win7 - 8 - 8.1

they just whant us to go to 10. i think they are doing a great job with this pushing , then they have to make just one update for all.

 

i hope i"m right.

 

 

[steven36]

23 minutes ago, eurobyn said:

you can still do a clean install and activate it for free ! win7 - 8 - 8.1

they just whant us to go to 10. i think they are doing a great job with this pushing , then they have to make just one update for all.

 

i hope i"m right.

 

 

You're talking about this right? you can use Windows 7 and 8.1 keys to activate windows 10 clean . 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-free-upgrade-is-still-available-using-windows-7-and-8-product-keys/

2 of my PCs has windows 10 on them already  ,One is so old it want run Windows 10, i dont even know why i just dont throw it away and the other has already been activated to Windows 10  and rolled back to Windows 7  I never use it anymore its just a spare .

[eurobyn]

16 minutes ago, steven36 said:

You're talking about this right? you can use Windows 7 and 8.1 keys to activate windows 10 clean . 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-free-upgrade-is-still-available-using-windows-7-and-8-product-keys/

2 of my PCs has windows 10 on them already  ,One is so old it want run Windows 10, i dont even know why i just dont throw it away and the other has already been activated to Windows 10  and rolled back to Windows 7  I never use it anymore its just a spare .

for windows 7 you will have to enter the license  key and it will activate even from clean install  from windows 8 and so on it is in the mdm table  key is in bios  (bios haves the key) yes it will activate youre license

as off to day it wil still work. (sorry for the  bad  english part (i'm from Belgium) microsoft whants us to go to 10 (one update for all windows)