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Microsoft Trademarks "Windows 365"

Posted by samzenpus on from the one-easy-payment dept.

jones_supa writes The talks about a subscription-based Windows have begun again. With Windows 10 those ideas did not materialize in the way that many had speculated. Even though Microsoft has not fully detailed its Windows 10 pricing strategy, it is not believed that Microsoft is targeting an annual subscription charge for Windows at this time. However, it turns out that Microsoft has recently filed for a trademark for Windows 365, which adds a bit of fuel to the subscription based version of Windows. As of right now, Microsoft has only claimed this branding right, but as for what they will do with it, only time will tell. Deep inside the company, the idea is clearly still bubbling there.

14 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Hard To Imagine... by sycodon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...Consumers and hobbyists signing on to a perpetual Microsoft tax.

    I have my doubts about large customers also. Many stick with a single version of windows for years and years because they want a stable computing environment.

    Well, as stable as it can be with Microsoft.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    1. Re:Hard To Imagine... by CrackerJackz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can picture the situation quite clearly: "I'm very sorry Mr. Surface Pro 5 Owner, but with the current release cycle your hardware will no longer be supported at the end of this year... and we do not offer subscriptions for legacy hardware." At least with Windows XP, Mac OS 10.5.x, etc "sunsetted" OSs can continue to be used (albeit with increased security risk) perpetually. Will Microsoft offer this same policy with 365 users as feature and requirements outstrip aging hardware? I think not.

    2. Re:Hard To Imagine... by spacepimp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well if Windows becomes a rental system, then wouldn't that spell the immediate removal of the MS tax, and that the base OS can't essentially be pirated any longer? Meaning All hardware companies can freely put any OS or none on there without fear of reproach?

    3. Re:Hard To Imagine... by mlts · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I can see something similar to O365. However, would the enterprise want to license production servers on this scale and have a glitch cause them to shut down? Good luck with that. The only way I can see something like this happening is using a KMS-like mechanism, but even then, there are many companies who run Windows air-gapped where a KMS would be unacceptable.

      To be real, MS needs to take their stock private, just like Dell, and get off the stock market where they don't have to just look at each quarter and little else. This way, MS can expand into a lot more markets (which mean a lot more long term growth) than they can now. A few examples:

      1: MS can make money by licensing their IP... same thing that keeps IBM from collapsing. If MS licensed Active Directory and Exchange to Apple and UNIX makers, it would mean ongoing profits for them with zero work. Oracle, IBM, and RedHat would pay MS for licensing so their products could run MS technologies. This is a win for everyone in the picture, because it means core functionality that would be forced to be on Windows could be on other environments.

      2: MS could start working on new technologies to leverage their software advantage. For example, with a two phase deduplication process similar to PureStorage devices (where basic deduplication is done on writes, and a second pass is done in the background for even better space savings), coupled with better RAM management in Hyper-V, coupled with the ability for Hyper-V nodes to access each other's drives via Infiniband connections... they would have made the SAN obsolete while offering just as much, if not more redundancy.

      3: Re-engineer for security. Vista was a major step in this regard, but it has been ten years, and the Windows kernel needs to be re-engineered again. This time, it might be good to have Hyper-V be always on, so any machine, desktop or workstation is a VM, and the user can load an AV utility at the hypervisor level to catch rootkits, even RAM based ones. Of course, this makes backups easy since the whole machine's snapshot, RAM and all, can be done.

      As for a subscription for consumers, it is an option, but it has to be priced right. Too high, and users will stick to previous of Windows indefinitely.

    4. Re:Hard To Imagine... by Solandri · · Score: 5, Informative

      I have my doubts about large customers also. Many stick with a single version of windows for years and years because they want a stable computing environment.

      Microsoft already tried the corporate subscription model with Win XP. Their marketing division talked a lot of their corporate customers into signing on to a 3 year contract instead of outright buying XP. The contract promised an upgrade to their next version of Windows, which was expected to happen 2-3 years after XP was released. Previous releases of Windows had been:

      Windows 3.0 - May 1990
      Windows 3.1 - March 1992
      Windows 95 - August 1995
      Windows 98 - June 1998
      Windows 2000 - Feb 2000
      Windows XP - Oct 2001

      So roughly 2-3 years between releases. Most companies knew full well Microsoft was pushing a subscription model, and were wary. But Microsoft priced it so that considering you were getting two releases of Windows, it was a good deal compared to buying the licenses outright. Most signed the 3 year contracts in 2002-2003.

      Vista wasn't released until Nov 2006 (volume licensing) and Jan 2007 (retail). More than 5 years after XP, and 1-2 years after most of those 3 year contracts expired. There were howls, mudslinging in corporate press, and lawsuits. I think Microsoft ended up extending those contracts by an extra year for free, which still left some customers out in the cold. And on top of that, Vista wasn't considered a very good upgrade so most companies ended up sticking with XP until Windows 7 was released in Oct 2009.

      The companies which signed up for Microsoft's subscription model 3-year support contract felt they'd been royally screwed. It will be a cold day in Hell before they ever sign up for a Windows 365. This is also the best argument against a subscription model - the constant revenue stream makes life easier for accounting, but it destroys the market incentive for the company to make improvements, add new features, and release them on a timely schedule.

    5. Re:Hard To Imagine... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know how their Office subscription is doing though, so maybe they've snookered some people into getting used to it.

      I like the Office 365 subscription. It's $10/month (versus $400 for Office Pro), I get regular updates, and I can install it on 5 machines and 5 phones. I currently have it installed on 4 laptops and two phones. To do those installs via hard media would be $1600. It'll take over 13 years of subscription to meet the price of buying the equivalent suites for my installs. And with Microsoft rolling significant updates every couple years, this is a vastly cheaper way for me to keep up with the releases. Not sure how the leads to being "snookered"...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  2. Leap years? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... but what happens on a leap year? Will Windows be unusable on that day? I mean, more unusable than it already is.

  3. leap years be damned! by smoothnorman · · Score: 3, Funny

    no windows for 2016 2020 2024 2028 2032 2036...

    1. Re:leap years be damned! by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Funny

      You'll have the choice of paying extra for Windows 366 on those years, or else leaving your computer off for an entire day.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  4. Re:failure imminent by Richard_at_work · · Score: 3, Informative

    As per July 2014, MS was hauling in $2.5Billion in revenue for Office 365, an increase of 2.5x over the previous year.

    http://news.microsoft.com/2014...

  5. Planning a head by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Windows 8 suxxxxxxs, what to do?"

    "Windows 8.1 as a stopgap. And rush Windows 9 into production."

    "No, we need to give the perception of totally abandoning 8. Skip 9 and call it 10."

    "Might not be far enough. How about 360 like X-Box? Release in 2016."

    "Nah sounds like a toy. How about Windows 365 -- The everyday computer for the everyman?"

    "Everyperson."

    "Ok, do it."

    2016 rolls around. $2 billion in ads come out.

    "Microsoft proudly introduces Windows 365! The everyday computer for the everyperson!"

    "Oh my god."

    "What?"

    "2016 is a leap year."

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  6. Losing their minds... by Junta · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On all fronts, the competition has been hurting them by reduced/no OS licensing cost inflicted on the consumer and/or vendor. For Apple, it's to push hardware, for google to push ecosystem. In both their major competitor's cases, they are making inroads by using the OS as a giveaway as a means to a more profitable end.

    MS doubling down on charging for the OS would only help their competition. If they are serious about enabling their ecosystem, they need to restructure things so those goals fund the OS development, not require the OS development to pay for itself.

    MS also misunderstands another facet. They think a rolling release OS is critical to their success. They think they need the OS to be able to incorporate new function on a whim. They probably feel that way as they are impatient to have Windows 10 come along to fix what they did wrong in Windows 8. The problem is no one was demanding features out of Windows 7. The sin in windows 8 was inflicting undesired features, not being slow to deliver features. A rolling release will mean that MS customers pissed with some major design change are less able to latch on to some MS sanctioned safe haven (e.g. today it is windows 7) and look harder at jumping on OSX, IOS, Android, or a desktop linux depending on the area. Enthusiasts may bitch and moan about not having Lollipop 5 minutes after it releases, but 99% of the world would just as soon have their device work basically the same way day to day.

    --
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  7. Trademarking is cheap by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Registering a trademark is cheap, especially for any outfit that's large enough to have their own lawyers already on staff. So, there isn't much percentage in trying to read anything big into the registering of a trademark. In this case, they would need no greater reason to trademark "Windows 365" than the fact that they already have some related trademarks.

  8. You will have no choice. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every computer will come with it and you won't be able to get a game or new hardware without having to check extensively that it supports Linux (or BSD) and find that it doesn't yet.

    You won't be able to get older versions.

    You won't be allowed on the internet without a "supported OS".

    You will have no choice in this matter except not to play at all and give up computers. And then if enough do that, it will be "explained" as being due to piracy or some other guff.