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As Windows Becomes a Service, Microsoft Needs To Be Transparent About Issues With That Service To Customers. In Recent Weeks, It Has Failed Miserably at That. (zdnet.com)

Veteran technology columnist Ed Bott writes: "Windows as a service" sounded like a good idea in 2015, when Microsoft released Windows 10. But after a terrible October, Microsoft's Windows 10 problems continued in November. Yesterday, an unknown number of devices running Windows 10 suddenly lost their activation status; the owners of those devices were told that they no longer had a valid digital license and were running a "non-genuine copy of Windows." Those activation problems are now apparently resolved, but Microsoft hasn't offered an explanation or an apology. A company spokesperson declined to provide any additional details.

[...] In the Windows-as-a-service era, it's perfectly understandable that problems will occasionally crop up. But customers have a right to expect prompt, accurate notification when those problems occur, and Microsoft is failing badly in that responsibility. For its enterprise customers, Microsoft long ago realized the need for timely and accurate status updates. If your organization is experiencing a problem with Office 365, there's a Service Status dashboard where you can find out what's wrong. Microsoft Azure customers have a similar Azure status dashboard and can even check the resolution of previous problems on the Azure status history page. Windows 10 customers have no similar resources.

36 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. They Don't Care by Kunedog · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If they did, they'd fix it. The whole point of this move is greater control over end users, with less accountability for themselves.

    "Windows as a service" sounded like a good idea in 2015,

    No it didn't.

    1. Re:They Don't Care by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This. Pure and simple.

      A shitty idea which has borne shitty results.

    2. Re:They Don't Care by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hear, hear, brother!
      Viva la Linux! Join The Resistance today and take back control of your computer!
      (..no, I'm not joking, I'm dead serious)

    3. Re:They Don't Care by keithdowsett · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's only a matter of time before complaining about Windows 10 problems will be outlawed by the Microsoft terms of service. These will be enforced globally by satellite strikes from low orbit, all authorised by a presidential decree.

    4. Re:They Don't Care by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not on the MS business side. They are still shoveling in the cash with a very large excavator. When the buyer is terminally stupid, crappy quality can dominate the market.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    5. Re:They Don't Care by snapsnap · · Score: 2

      And if fixing it is hard, then they would disable the 30 minute reboot if they cared.

      It sucks that it takes so long to load SQL Server, Visual Studio, etc. to start working then you work for about ten minutes then Windows reboots.

    6. Re:They Don't Care by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 2

      You may, or may not, see this post.

      I virtualized my entire Win7 box with VMWare vCenter Converter
      https://www.howtogeek.com/2131...

      This included LightRoom and Photoshop (granted, CS3) and I was *stunned* at how well it run as a VM, even on my older Ubuntu PowerEdge 2900 box.

      It works, and it works well. Through in a modern system with GPU Passthrough and it'll work even better.

      --
      So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
    7. Re:They Don't Care by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Seconded. Also:

      In the Windows-as-a-service era, it's perfectly understandable that problems will occasionally crop up.

      No it isn't. There's a thing called erring on the side of caution. Bunch of shitcocks.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    8. Re:They Don't Care by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 2
      You can get banned for swearing

      Publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any inappropriate, profane, defamatory, obscene, indecent or unlawful topic, name, material or information.

      What is an unlawful topic, name, material or information? This doesn't make sense. Can't we legally (in the states at least) pretty much talk about anything we want, beyond talking people into committing a crime and inciting mass panic. (Of course that assumes that the law system isn't cottup I guess.)

      --
      http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
  2. "sounded like a good idea in 2015"?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    '"Windows as a service" sounded like a good idea in 2015'

    Um... no. It was a horrible, retarded idea then and it is now. Also, 2015 is considered in the past now? I've barely accepted year 2005 yet...

    1. Re: "sounded like a good idea in 2015"?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Probably because your Windows time service isn't running.

  3. It was NEVER a good idea! by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Windows as a service" sounded like a good idea in 2015

    Oh, HELL NO, this was never a good idea, and it will never BE a 'good idea', it's BULLSHIT. You buy a piece of software (I don't care if it's an OS or an application) it's yours and that's the way it should be.

    The more shit like this that Microsoft does, the better I feel about moving away from Windows and onto Linux instead. Fuck Microsoft and their pay, pay, PAY FOREVER bullshit 'business model'.

    1. Re:It was NEVER a good idea! by DaMattster · · Score: 2

      I just run Windows 10 in a VM. Otherwise everything I do desktop wise is either OpenBSD or Alpine Linux. I hate Windows 10 but occasionally I need it for something specific.

    2. Re:It was NEVER a good idea! by jaa101 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You buy a piece of software (I don't care if it's an OS or an application) it's yours and that's the way it should be.

      The problem with this model is that it gives software vendors no money to maintain software and fix bugs. They’re forced to add new features constantly to entice people to buy new versions to maintain their cash flow. Even if they fix the last version’s bugs, they introduce new bugs with the new features. And because the new features are profit-driven they’re often pointless bling that are of minimal utility to anyone.

      A subscription model at least gives the vendor a chance to maintain their products’ security and quality in the long term. I’m not saying that Microsoft is taking that chance.

    3. Re:It was NEVER a good idea! by sjames · · Score: 2

      That's what support contracts are for. Of course, that would require actually supplying support other than reboot or reinstall.

    4. Re:It was NEVER a good idea! by rahvin112 · · Score: 2

      You got windows 10? Then you agreed to the windows 10 as a service model. Why do you think Microsoft upgraded everyone for free? You don't have any contractual claim if you upgraded for free, on top of that the EULA language gives microsoft the right to charge any amount they want on any timeline they way (monthly, daily, hourly) for usage of MS windows.

      People have been warning about this for years. Valve started the whole steam on linux thing directly because of this. Are you that ignorant that you've ignored this entirely?

      Windows 10 is Windows as a service, they plan to start charging in 2020 for Windows so be prepared to sign up for the monthly charge or they will hold your computer hostage till you do. You should know this, you agreed to it when you upgraded.

    5. Re:It was NEVER a good idea! by sjames · · Score: 2

      If support is just a software subscription, it's a rip-off. When I say support, I mean SUPPORT.

  4. They have no reason to care by kalpol · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Windows 10 doesn't give them much revenue. Office 365 and Azure is where it's at for them, the Windows install base at this point is a massive inconvenience to getting people on subscriptions.

    --
    12:50 - press return.
    1. Re:They have no reason to care by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 2

      Windows 10 is practically an ad for those services.
      They really really want you to sign up for it.

      --
      http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
    2. Re:They have no reason to care by whoever57 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Windows 10 doesn't give them much revenue.

      Yes, but it crucial to their revenue. Without Windows, you don't have Outlook. Without Outlook, you don't have Exchange. You don't have Visual Studio, etc..

      Without Windows, you don't have the Windows mindset amongst website developers. Even fewer websites will be hosted on Windows.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    3. Re:They have no reason to care by Junta · · Score: 2

      Note that there have been overtures of starting to have a multi-platform .Net 'core'.

      In the short term, it's to try to get MS relevance in the 'server' space, by catering to the 'demand' for Microsoft non-gui software on Mac and Linux (I have no idea who that would be personally, but MS at least hopes the market is there).

      For now they are half-hearted and are holding back any GUI support, but I wouldn't be surprised if they brought over some of that to squeeze out just a few more percent for the total addressable market for O365.

      They'd obviously much rather people be on Windows (it's still a healthy revenue stream, and also it is as others have said an advertising platform for O365 and therefore Windows is an advantaged place to try to get attach), but they stand ready to infest other platforms if they think it'll fit their interests.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    4. Re:They have no reason to care by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      I truly believe that the next version of Windows for Home and Professional will be a Linux based platform that's only compatible with the App store and Office 365 apps too. For Win32 compatibility and hardware configuration flexibility, that will still be available but only in Windows Workstation (that's what gamers will use too). And of course, Server will still provide all that you need.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  5. Windows as a service... by blahplusplus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... is proof our species is a race of idiots.

    1. Re:Windows as a service... by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Hardly. It's simply proof that most people don't care about things that don't interest them. As long as their computers boot and they can do activity x then they ultimately don't give a shit what model they have, especially when they aren't being charged for it.

      It's called marketing. You call it Windows as a Service, the users only hear: Free updates!

      That doesn't make them idiots, that makes them ignorant, and willfully so.

  6. Now THAT's what I call a news headline by grungeman · · Score: 3, Funny

    Putting your opinion straight into the headline and calling it news, that's how you do it. No fucking around, not even pretending to report neutrally. Love that kind of journalism.

    --

    Signature deleted by lameness filter.
  7. Windows 10 as a disservice by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Windows 10 is like a window company that doesn't sell but only rents windows to home owners.

    A window company that embeds non-removable cameras in the frames to monitor the window and what's inside.

  8. Windows server 2019 is STILL MIA by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    Windows server 2019 is STILL MIA.

    With no news about an ETA of an re-release time frame.

  9. Re:Need to be transparent? Bullshit by theurge14 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope this helped convince yourself.

  10. Re:Something doesn't make sense, follow the money by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hanlon's Razor
    Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

  11. Re:Something doesn't make sense, follow the money by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Stupidity does not adequately explain Microsoft, and hasn't for decades.

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  12. Hmm by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The article is unclear on what it means by "Windows as a service", and also on how the problems described would relate to that.

    Are Windows 10 home users paying via subscription or something? That's what I would think of as "Windows as a service".

    There have always been Windows activation issues, auto-update issues, etc.

    So - yes, Windows bad, etc. But because "Windows as a service"? If anything, the article itself sort of implies that business customers (who often/usually are effectively "Windows as a service") have it better (comparatively, anyway) than Windows home users.

  13. Source Please by fluffythedestroyer · · Score: 2

    "Windows as a service" sounded like a good idea in 2015,

    From where did you get that idea seriously ?

  14. W10 should be named "Windows as a disservice" by Fantasio · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My experience with Windows 10 is that it works first =for= Microsoft interests and not =my= interests, constantly trying to manipulate me, pushing its wares, spying on me, diverting my attention to =their= solutions. All this is making me feel in an hostile environment. Therefore, I'll keep Windows 7 on my main home PC as long as possible. After that....

  15. Wrong headline by stooo · · Score: 2

    >> In Recent Weeks, It Has Failed Miserably at That.
    Nope, not really. I'll correct that :
    In Recent Decades, It Has Failed Miserably At That.
    (BTW, what's this habit of uppercasing all the words ???)

    --
    aaaaaaa
  16. Re: Need to be transparent? Bullshit by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2

    Linux works great and I can't tell if you are grossly incompetent, a troll, or most likely, both.

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  17. No by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

    "Windows as a service" sounded like a good idea in 2015, when Microsoft released Windows 10.

    No, it fucking didn't. At no point has having an OS as a service EVER made sense. The whole concept is idiotic and nothing more than what it has panned to be: A cash grab that dramatically increases the costs of owning the OS with zero benefit in exchange.

    The only reason they even got away with it is because they have a captive monopoly.

    This is why Apple's computer business is booming even though they can't make a keyboard to save their lives. Suddenly there is renewed interest in making Linux a viable desktop. More and more people are jumping the Windows ship cause they are finally fed up.

    Turning Windows into a service-when-not-a-service is Windows finally jumping the shark.