Microsoft Explains New Licensing Model For Windows 10
Microsoft Explains New Licensing Model For Windows 10
Windows 10 comes with a substantial number of changes, not just in how the operating system functions, but how it will be made available to users and businesses.
The new OS will be offered free of charge within the first year, to consumers that are running either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. But analysts now expect a similar transition for the enterprise sector too, in the near future.
Microsoft touched upon this new freemium business model for Windows 10 at their recently concluded Convergence 2015 conference.
Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela explained this, saying:
“This whole model is predicated not on the notion that someone will pay you before they get to use your products but on the complete opposite, that almost every one of your products, certainly every one of our cloud products, will have a free tier. And I don’t mean a trial program, I mean a free tier, it’s just free, and you can focus on acquiring people for free and getting them to use your product.”
So basically, Windows 10 will not be a time limited trial, nor will Microsoft implement ads within the operating system to in order to make revenue — as some feared.
Capossela pointed out that this is the exact strategy Redmond is using for Office, the division which now brings in the most revenue for the company. Using Office applications on phones and small tablets is entirely free now, but certain premium features do require payments.
And the software titan now bets on businesses and enterprises that want more advanced features and tools in Windows 10 to pay for the privilege.
Sure, a lot of points still need to be clarified right now, including the price enterprises will have to pay to get access to these advanced features, but the company is sure to address them as we get closer to the launch of Windows 10 later this year.
For the time being we can be sure that Microsoft is keen on experimenting here, and that is a good sign.
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