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Microsoft Is Readying a Consumer Microsoft 365 Subscription Bundle (zdnet.com)
Microsoft is working on a new "Microsoft 365 Consumer" bundle that "will be the consumer-focused complement to Microsoft's existing Microsoft 365 subscription bundle for business users," reports ZDNet. From the report: A couple of recent Microsoft job postings mention the consumer subscription bundle, which Microsoft has yet to announce publicly. One job posting for a Product Manager for the "M365 Consumer Subscription" notes: "The Subscription Product Marketing team is a new team being created to build and scale the Microsoft 365 Consumer Subscription." The job description says the product manager for this service will help "identify, build, position and market a great new Microsoft 365 Consumer Subscription."
The job post notes that the team behind Microsoft 365 Consumer oversees the Windows platform, the Microsoft Surface device portfolio, Office 365 consumer plans, Skype, Cortana, Bing search, as well as the Microsoft Education team. If I were betting on what Microsoft 365 Consumer might include, I'd think some variant of Windows 10, Office 365 Home, Skype, Cortana, Bing, Outlook Mobile, Microsoft To-Do and maybe MSN apps and services could figure into the picture. Maybe this subscription will be tied to Surface devices only? Maybe a monthly leasing fee for Surfaces will be part of the bundle itself?
The job post notes that the team behind Microsoft 365 Consumer oversees the Windows platform, the Microsoft Surface device portfolio, Office 365 consumer plans, Skype, Cortana, Bing search, as well as the Microsoft Education team. If I were betting on what Microsoft 365 Consumer might include, I'd think some variant of Windows 10, Office 365 Home, Skype, Cortana, Bing, Outlook Mobile, Microsoft To-Do and maybe MSN apps and services could figure into the picture. Maybe this subscription will be tied to Surface devices only? Maybe a monthly leasing fee for Surfaces will be part of the bundle itself?
Corporations REALLY want to move everyone to a monthly rental model in order to satisfy their CFOs need for predictable quarterly income. This is really the end of personal computing since it will all be tied to the cloud and the Internet. Eventually ISPs will require your device to be one of the approved rental model systems in order to connect to the Internet at all.
'guess I'll be sticking with Windows 7 or some variant of Linux indefinitely if M$ wants to ram a monthly subscription to Win 10 down my raw gullet.
Buddy, do you not realize that this goes far beyond Microsoft or computing devices in general? The Rich want everyone to rent or lease everything and own nothing of value. Look for this, you'll see that it's true. Basically another form of feudalism. Discourage and/or prevent average people from owning anything with any real value by placing barriers in their way. When everything is leased or rented, those things can be taken away with little or no notice, and when you're poor, substantial legal representation is out of your reach financially, so you can't fight it. When you can't, for instance, own your own home, you can't build equity in it as you pay off the loan, therefore you can't borrow against that equity, so you're stuck with just your income. The credit rating system is rigged also, so your ability to borrow money is limited. This and other things are what are destorying the middle class in the U.S., leaving a vacuum in it's place, so there's only 'The Poor' and 'The Rich', with no way to cross that gulf because no middle class. Also note how hideously expensive it is to get a college degree, and it's getting harder and harder to get student loans, and even if you can you're struggling to pay them off for years and years -- assuming that is your degree is even worth anything in todays' workplace, which all too often it isn't.