this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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Intel might have slipped that Windows 12 is indeed coming next year | Company CFO sees benefits of a coming "Windows Refresh"::undefined

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago (5 children)

windows 11 isnt even the majority of installs yet and they're trying to push for windows 12? They tried doing "windows as a service" with Windows 10 but that never really manifested either.

I know people whine that Linux users always harp on about Linux, but there's a better alternative to having a £100 tax on every new laptop you buy, or having to buy a new license every time you upgrade a PC a little too much in one go. Or being locked out of security updates because you dont want to subject your system to adware.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And with the Steam Deck entering the picture, we have a huge company like valve making it even easier to jump ship now. Its the ship jump I used

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I love how it’s not even Valve directly, they just threw a huge pile of cash at the Wine team and said “go nuts”, and it’s been a boon for the entirely community.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Microsoft might be leaning into an old reputation. Windows 95 was crap, Windows 98 fixes it. Windows ME was crap, Windows XP fixes it. Windows Vista was crap, Windows 7 fixes it.

They might be expecting that people think Windows 11 was crap in the same way Windows ME or Vista was crap, and they'll flock to Windows 12. But it's not like Windows 11 is horribly broken like that. The actual problem is that Windows 11 doesn't give many compelling reasons to upgrade over 10, and it has a bunch of useless bloat.

As a developer, having WSL2 open up X11 apps without having to jump through hoops of running an X server on Windows is quite nice. Other than that, I don't know why I'd bother.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

In actuality 98 was crap until SE and XP was crap until SP2.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't think Microsoft charges OEMs remotely close to full price for OEM licenses, so it's more like a $10 tax, but I agree with everything else here

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Its lower. Businesses basically pay a subscription for the ability to generate keys. So of course if you have a large business, the subscription is trivial in the grand scale of things.

Its similar to how game companies work with pc cafes in asia. They dont pay for all the games they host, some they pay a sub to generate accounts for people who pay for the cafe rental times. Its a vital feature for paid games with a focus on multiplayer (e.g Overwatch 1 worked like that in China)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably depends on the SKU (They probably give discounts if you preinstall) but for some Lenovo models where the OS is optional the price to the consumer is £80 which is 75% a typical license.

[–] zalgotext 6 points 1 year ago

How much of that £80 does Lenovo take though? I doubt they're selling licenses at cost

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Yeah pretty weird, considering 11 still feels kinda half baked.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Didn't the same happen with Windows 7 and 8.1?

Most were still using 7 when 10 was released.

Microsoft and the consumers will be fine.

And no, it still isn't the year of Linux. Back in 2016 it had somewhat of a chance, but not anymore. And neither with the Windows 12 launch, sorry.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure but 8 and 8.1 were famously unpopular though (even though I personally enjoyed the Metro design language).

Windows 11 seems to be received generally well, but what's the push to upgrade now? Windows 10 being as good as it was has turned it into another 7/XP.

It's gonna be a slowwwww march for any alternative but Windows doesnt have the benefit of being the best by default anymore -- it has to work for it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are a few factors at play, I think.

  1. Microsoft isn't nearly being as aggressive about pushing free Windows 11 upgrades as they were with Windows 10. Windows Update will offer it to you, but not install it unless you explicitly opt-in.

  2. Windows 11's system requirements of a processor from the last 5 years plus TPM being enabled (it was off by default on most motherboards bought before 2022) leaves a lot of users not even being offered the upgrade (they can manually upgrade after jumping through some hoops).

  3. Windows 10 is still actively supported and will be for a while, removing any impetus for users or organizations to upgrade unless they specifically need some of the new features.

All of this adds up to a substantial portion of Windows 11 installs likely being new machines rather than upgrades.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The steam deck got me used to Linux, I personally am never going back to Windows