Solved POLL: Would you pay for a Windows 12 subscription?

Wynona · Oct 6, 2023

I'm not sure I'd pay for a subscription to Windows 12. Most likely, I'd continue to use Windows 11 until it's no longer safe. In the meantime I'd do my best to learn to use a Linux OS. . . or maybe an Android one.

I wouldn't be surprised if some upstart OS would become available.

antspants · Oct 6, 2023

Wynona said:
I wouldn't be surprised if some upstart OS would become available.

I’ve also thought this. But they’d want to get cracking.

Mooly · Oct 6, 2023

If Windows went down the subscription route then I would bet the pre development versions for beta testers would have to remain free, otherwise no one would want to trial and help development which would be a disaster for Microsoft. So that would be one possible way out for the likes of folk like us. Maybe

antspants · Oct 6, 2023

Mooly said:
If Windows went down the subscription route then I would bet the pre development versions for beta testers would have to remain free, otherwise no one would want to trial and help development which would be a disaster for Microsoft. So that would be one possible way out for the likes of folk like us. Maybe

Good point, great idea

jimbo45 · Oct 6, 2023

antspants said:
I’ve also thought this. But they’d want to get cracking.

Linux already is available, Free and well established - why would someone bother to create a new OS from scratch.

antspants · Oct 6, 2023

jimbo45 said:
Linux already is available, Free and well established - why would someone bother to create a new OS from scratch.

Possibly to mimic Windows in the way of interfaces? Without risking plagiarism or copy-and-paste programming.

jimbo45 · Oct 6, 2023

antspants said:
Possibly to mimic Windows in the way of interfaces? Without risking plagiarism or copy-and-paste programming.

Somebody tried that years ago with a system called Lindows -- I think as these things do ended up in some court as an absolute lawyers fest.

History here :

Linspire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cheers
jimbo

Senecio · Oct 6, 2023

It isn't possible to answer the question, because we don't know what the cost might be. I would pay a small subscription rather than have advertisements in order to stay with Windows. My original reason for choosing Windows was simply that it offered consistency into the future - i.e. I would still be able to access my important documents and data. Back in the 1980s when these decisions were being taken, I had owned three incompatible systems, and could not access work which I had done on earlier machines. Windows has solved that problem, and I will be reluctant to give it up. I have used Linux (about 10 years ago) and found it fine, after the initial set up, which was seriously old-fashioned and techie. It didn't help that "Linux gurus" on the internet mocked "Linux newbies" rather than offering serious support. That may have improved. In addition, some Windows programs which I had invested a lot of time and effort into, were not compatible, so all their data would be lost. However, if MS gets the pricing decision wrong, I will probably move to one of the more accessible Linux builds.

jimbo45 · Oct 6, 2023

Senecio said:
It isn't possible to answer the question, because we don't know what the cost might be. I would pay a small subscription rather than have advertisements in order to stay with Windows. My original reason for choosing Windows was simply that it offered consistency into the future - i.e. I would still be able to access my important documents and data. Back in the 1980s when these decisions were being taken, I had owned three incompatible systems, and could not access work which I had done on earlier machines. Windows has solved that problem, and I will be reluctant to give it up. I have used Linux (about 10 years ago) and found it fine, after the initial set up, which was seriously old-fashioned and techie. It didn't help that "Linux gurus" on the internet mocked "Linux newbies" rather than offering serious support. That may have improved. In addition, some Windows programs which I had invested a lot of time and effort into, were not compatible, so all their data would be lost. However, if MS gets the pricing decision wrong, I will probably move to one of the more accessible Linux builds.

Linux these days is very stable, mostly well documented e.g the Arch linux wiki, and is often used for large commercial servers e.g RHEL (Red Hat enterprise server) etc. Installs are simple these days - even the "supposedly" difficult Arch Linux can be installed via a step by step wizard, just run arch-install after booting the iso. Other distros - there's live media which means you can run and test without altering anything on your PC.

I like arch linux because you can customise it nicely for your own system and have a nice mean lean system. Most "Canned" distros tend to have a lot of things in them which might be good for lots of people but there's really no "One size fits all" on this sort of stuff. On the whole though Windows does pretty well considering the user base but once it's not "FTA" and goes subscription (if it does) then I'm as I said before - not buying. Older Windows will still run indefinitely on VM's.

Cheers
jimbo

Kerro · Oct 6, 2023

Besides my Windows 11 machine I also have a 27 inch iMac in my office here at home. MS wants to make a sub based system, I'll jump on the Mac and change my Windows machine to Linux.

antspants · Oct 6, 2023

jimbo45 said:
Somebody tried that years ago with a system called Lindows -- I think as these things do ended up in some court as an absolute lawyers fest.

History here :

Linspire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cheers
jimbo

Interesting, thank you

Companies might see it as a band wagon to jump on, which will most likely turn into blues fest. Like you said, Jimbo, Linux is established.

jimbo45 · Oct 6, 2023

Kerro said:
Besides my Windows 11 machine I also have a 27 inch iMac in my office here at home. MS wants to make a sub based system, I'll jump on the Mac and change my Windows machine to Linux.

I think you can run a Windows VM on an iMac -- you need parallels though -- never tried it but apparently it does work successfully according to many who've tried it. However I don't think it's free software though.

Cheers
jimbo

kelper · Oct 6, 2023

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

Kees · Oct 6, 2023

No - I would use another OS

What bothers me most, is the messages that I read that MS is planning to have that Windows 12 subscription based on the cloud.
No more (or hardly any) software on your PC, but all data is sent to the cloud, where you can edit it. Like Google Documents do.

And that's much more worrying me than having to pay a (hopefully) small monthly amount for use of Windows. Whereby I would expect, that if I buy a PC with Windows 12 (Subscription) on it, I would not pay for that operating system with the PC. Because otherwise I would pay double: once for the provided software with the PC and a monthly amount. When ordering my last PC (see system data), I payed 159 Euro for the (ready installed) Windows 11 Pro OS. Not OEM, but really having an install DVD and software key with it.

I have been testing Linux OS's in the past on my virtual box. The big problem that I had, was that I have to manage many installations (and all kinds of other things) over 'sudo apt... 'in the console. And often I did have to use a different command for the package I liked to install. That's back to MS-DOS batches (as I used to use in the '80 years) and as I am rather old, I would prefer to be able to have a normal install like in Windows .exe or .msi. In Android (Linux based) they have made installable files that end with .apk and when you click them the program is installed. There even are apps with which you can save an installed program as .apk! No problems with consoles etc. Why can't that be realized for Linux distriibutions? I know that a lot of programs come over the repositories, but as soon when I follow instructions how to install Linux xxx the best, I find many suggestions for using sudo apt... commands to make the system faster, safer or whatever they recommend.

But I certainly would not accept cloud based software (I refuse to entrust my data to Micrrosoft or any other company). So when they switch over to that, I would certainly step to any distribution of Linux that has a good NL translation, good support in NL language and as userfriendly as possible. And for that reason I decided now, that I will take up the thread that I abandoned a few years ago, to look for such a distrubution already and test it for all the functions that I would like to fulfill on my system. I have plenty of time to do that (if fate does give me that time, in June this year it suddenly was almost finished, but I survived...).

jimbo45 · Oct 6, 2023

Kees said:
No - I would use another OS

What bothers me most, is the messages that I read that MS is planning to have that Windows 12 subscription based on the cloud.
No more (or hardly any) software on your PC, but all data is sent to the cloud, where you can edit it. Like Google Documents do.

And that's much more worrying me than having to pay a (hopefully) small monthly amount for use of Windows. Whereby I would expect, that if I buy a PC with Windows 12 (Subscription) on it, I would not pay for that operating system with the PC. Because otherwise I would pay double: once for the provided software with the PC and a monthly amount. When ordering my last PC (see system data), I payed 159 Euro for the (ready installed) Windows 11 Pro OS. Not OEM, but really having an install DVD and software key with it.

I have been testing Linux OS's in the past on my virtual box. The big problem that I had, was that I have to manage many installations (and all kinds of other things) over 'sudo apt... 'in the console. And often I did have to use a different command for the package I liked to install. That's back to MS-DOS batches (as I used to use in the '80 years) and as I am rather old, I would prefer to be able to have a normal install like in Windows .exe or .msi. In Android (Linux based) they have made installable files that end with .apk and when you click them the program is installed. There even are apps with which you can save an installed program as .apk! No problems with consoles etc. Why can't that be realized for Linux distriibutions? I know that a lot of programs come over the repositories, but as soon when I follow instructions how to install Linux xxx the best, I find many suggestions for using sudo apt... commands to make the system faster, safer or whatever they recommend.

But I certainly would not accept cloud based software (I refuse to entrust my data to Micrrosoft or any other company). So when they switch over to that, I would certainly step to any distribution of Linux that has a good NL translation, good support in NL language and as userfriendly as possible. And for that reason I decided now, that I will take up the thread that I abandoned a few years ago, to look for such a distrubution already and test it for all the functions that I would like to fulfill on my system. I have plenty of time to do that (if fate does give me that time, in June this year it suddenly was almost finished, but I survived...).

just login as root - type su then problem solved.

Installing software on "sensible distros" is actually quite easy - if using a GUI there's all sorts of packages like discover where you can search for and 1-click install - or if you like the command line simply pacman -S <package package > etc. (For "Debian" type distros e/g debian, arch linux, ubuntu, mint, etc), or yast for rpm type distros). Or apt and even apt-get will find stuff.

For easy method though with a GUI :

E.G discover :

Those who say Linux is too difficult etc -- they've been away from it a long long time -- totally improved these days and it's probably easier than windows in many areas.

cheers
jimbo

Hopachi · Oct 6, 2023

It all depends, obviously if I get a subscription at / for work I'd still be using Windows, the new way, if needed and without other alternatives.
Though for my "garage box" or home PC, nah. I'm already half the time in Linux.
For nostalgia and old stuff, I'd run an older Windows version anytime, in case older games or software require that.

Quandary · Oct 6, 2023

I am not voting as the choices are too restrictive. Continue using Win 10/11 should be an option, as using Win 11 is a viable until there is a compelling reason to drop it. That could be at least 3 years.

There would need to be some compelling feature in Win 12 to justify the subscription. It might be reasonable at $25 per year, but $100 per year might not, factoring in the number of PC's at home.

Hopachi · Oct 6, 2023

Quandary said:
Continue using Win 10/11 should be an option, as using Win 11 is a viable until there is a compelling reason to drop it. That could be at least 3 years.

Yes. This is a logical choice, I too would have taken it as option. Though I voted, being prepared for the worst-case scenario, that is if no other Windows option would be available in the long run.

antspants · Oct 6, 2023

Quandary said:
I am not voting as the choices are too restrictive. Continue using Win 10/11 should be an option, as using Win 11 is a viable until there is a compelling reason to drop it. That could be at least 3 years.

There would need to be some compelling feature in Win 12 to justify the subscription. It might be reasonable at $25 per year, but $100 per year might not, factoring in the number of PC's at home.

In hindsight, if I were able to add choices like that, I would. Editing only lasts for an hour, then it’s locked.

Kees · Oct 6, 2023

I would like only to react on this one phrase (as it it is off-topic):

jimbo45 said:
...or if you like the command line...

I don't like the command line at all, being used to ready-made installs in Windows and Android!

Back on-topic, I will certainly see what I can do, but that has time.
Did not yet (re-)start...

Solved POLL: Would you pay for a Windows 12 subscription?

Would you use Windows 12 if it were a subscription base?

Yes - I would pay a monthly/yearly subscription

No - I would use another OS

Android

Apple IOS

Linux

macOS

Unix

Ubantu

Other (Please list)

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