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@pelya@lemmy.world

2026-04-19 09:05 UTC

Windows has stopped being Microsoft't core business since Windows 8 (2015), and turned into an expensive liability. The core of Microsoft business now lies in selling cloud services, compute, and Office 365 subscriptions. The problem is - users pay for Windows only once, and not each year like all other fancy rich companies like Adobe make their users do. And the market is saturated, because Microsoft became monopoly around 1995. Every PC sold has Windows installed, and since everyone on the planet already owns one PC per person (citation needed), the sales directly depend on the birth rate. Trying to change to subscription model was met with violent pushback from users, so they started adding advertisements to taskbar starting in Windows 10, and created a shittiest app store ever to copy Apple. They have been trying to kill Windows ever since, but they cannot due to numerous contract obligations.

Replies (3)

  • @nous@programming.dev 2026-04-19 10:06

    > The problem is - users pay for Windows only once That is not in the slightest true. They pay once per computer. And people go through multiple computers in their lifetime. So it is not at all tied to birthrate. Very few people buy licenses directly. Most people buy it pre-installed with an OEM license that is tied to that computer.

    Open ##1464294

  • @BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.world 2026-04-19 15:23

    Windows is in no way free. Every new Windows Laptop and PC comes with a license; when you pay for the PC part of that money goes directly to Microsoft. Microsoft made upgrading to Windows 10 and 11 "free" for those on older hardware who already had paid for a license because they wanted to move people onto the latest versions and stop supporting the old versions. At the same time they've been harvesting and selling users data to make even more money. They are not trying to "kill" Windows, they are trying to change it into a cloud based system too so that you do have to pay a subscription to use it. They want new PCs and Laptops to be essentially nothing more than thin terminals, using your hardware to support their cloud based system but not actually owning any of the software at all. But they are less bothered about the absolute revenue Windows makes now, and more bothered about making it a walled garden they control and which up-sells you to all their other subscription services under Office, and Xbox.

    Open ##1464295

  • @vratajin@piefed.social 2026-04-19 09:34

    That does not make sense. If they have the monopoly and it's on every PC, which are being sold constantly, and it costs money to obtain, then it should at least should have a potential to be highly profitable.

    Open ##1464303