Newsletter Archives

  • Microsoft charging for Windows 10! Gertie, buy a shotgun!

    Posted on July 15, 2016 at 08:40 CDT by • Comment in the Forums
    Lillian Gish, Night of the Hunter

    Lillian Gish, Night of the Hunter

    I’ve been trying to avoid this, but it looks like I can’t.

    Yes, there’s an article on Forbes that says “Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 New Monthly Charge.” No, I won’t link to it. It’s up to nearly 700,000 hits at this point, and that’s enough. (I’m in the wrong business, I guess.)

    The short observation is that Microsoft has ALWAYS charged companies for the Enterprise version of Windows. This is no exception. In fact, if anything, it’s a major discount from what’s been charged before – depending on how you look at it.

    Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet has the real story.

    Wes Miller, @getwired, knows more about Microsoft licensing than any ten lawyers alive. Here’s his take.

    Win10 licensing

    He’s quite literally correct — Microsoft has charged annual fees for Enterprise licenses forever, but they’re not subscription fees. Software Assurance “can perhaps be considered a subscription… but it really isn’t, as you retain some perpetual rights.”

    UPDATE: As noted in the comments by b, there’s really no difference between a subscription payment and an annual fee. It’s a question of what’s in the contracts.

    Windows News ,
DON'T MISS OUT!
Subscribe to the Free Newsletter
We promise not to spam you. Unsubscribe at any time.
Invalid email address

View the Forum

  • Recent Replies
  • My Replies
  • My Active Topics
  • New Posts in the Last day
  • Private Messages
  • Knowledge Base
  • How to use the Forums
  • All Forums

    • Recent Topics

    My Profile

    May 2025
    S M T W T F S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

    Remembering Woody

     

    Want to Advertise in the free newsletter? How about a gift subscription in honor of a birthday? Send an email to sb@askwoody.com to ask how.

    Mastodon profile for DefConPatch
    Mastodon profile for AskWoody

     

    Home • About • FAQ • Posts & Privacy • Forums • My Account
    Register • Free Newsletter • Plus Membership • Gift Certificates • MS-DEFCON Alerts

    Copyright ©2004-2025 by AskWoody Tech LLC. All Rights Reserved.