# Windows 9 Release



## garystan (Jan 14, 2010)

I received, in my e-mail, an article about the upcoming release of Windows 9. Stating that Microsoft will no longer be issuing "keys' for activation. Due to software piracy. Instead, Microsoft will require a monthly subscription for the purchased Windows 9 OS. This is a little "off the wall " isn't it ?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

It could happen. Since many companies are switching to a monthly fee instead, similar to what Adobe is doing now.

I don't see it happening. If it does, I would see a massive decrease in sales.


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

Personally, I'd balk at buying a new computer if I couldn't use it without paying a monthly fee to Microsoft.

If Win 9 is going to demand a monthly payment, I'd say that a good percentage of PC users may just move over to Linux.

You'd think that they would learn:


> Microsoft is testing a new bundle of fun codenamed "Albany" ... a package that you'll pay a monthly fee for.


That was in 2008. Does anyone see Albany sold anywhere anymore? Nope, it was a marketing failure and was shut down the next year.


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

I doubt it will be monthly
I have read the articles about Windows 9 - 365
It appears it may be an annual subscription OS as Office 365 is a subscription Software.


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## x BlueRobot (Aug 7, 2013)

No one would purchase a monthly subscription, it's just a greedy marketing ploy. They tried making stupid changes before the Xbox One was released, and that led to Microsoft not implementing those changes.


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

Microsoft was built on the "greedy marketing ploy." Gates took advantage of Kildall's open nature to steal much of CP/M. Later, it was found that MS was actively sabotaging it's DR-DOS competition and an anti-trust lawsuit ensued, which was settled out of court by MS paying Digital's successor $150 million. Apparently stealing, cheating and buyoffs are just good business.


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

With Windows 8, Microsoft tried to make everyone think "tablet" with its fancy "Metro" look. I don't know who dropped the ball over there but they should have realized that the OS would still primarily be sold on PCs and laptops, where only a very few had touchscreens, not to mention that almost no one who works at a desk wants to be reaching up and touching the screen all the time. The keyboard and mouse still rule the roost of office PCs and will for some time. 

25% of PCs still run on XP and 50% on Win 7. Even two years after its release, only 13% of systems run on Win 8.x.

MS seems to be thinking of a new "rental agreement" for the Windows 9 OS. I can see the point in trying to implement a new anti-piracy scheme. Reports suggest that 80% of PCs in China run on pirates copies of Windows. However, Microsoft itself is somewhat to blame for this because of its difficult to understand licensing and Machiavellian business practices. I wonder what MS would have turned out like if it had implemented more of an open-source business plan with excellent support being the key to gaining and retaining customers, rather than hassling the main user-base with confusing license agreements, complex product keys, convoluted upgrade paths and activation that sometimes renders a completely legitimate update copy of Windows incapable of being reinstalled without either spending an entire day reinstalling its predecessors or using some undocumented tricks to allow the install to complete.



> Windows 9 will bring with it “premium Windows devices [that] will be as sleek, light and stylish".


Business and home users don't so much want this as they do an OS that is easy to install, easy to maintain and does what it needs to do. Forget the "bells and whistles" -- just implement an OS that works.

Also, forcing users into a completely different interface alienates the user base. Stick with the interface that's developed over the past 30 years as it's the one that the "old hands" know and will teach the new employees. Rather than making the user adapt to the GUI MS deigns will be used, make the interface customizable. It's amazing what some Linux desktops look like.



> "Windows 9 is supposed to be what Windows 8 was supposed to be."


So, if a person feels that they "got gipped" with Windows 8, what makes them think that MS is going to get it right the second time around? And why not just fix the problem with Windows 8.2 instead of tossing it and releasing Windows 9. MS seems to be laughing in the face of its customers who purchased Win 8 by implying that more money can buy them an OS that is what they just purchased was supposed to be. Of course, many Windows 8 users felt put out anyway when they found that they had to pay extra to get back some of the functionalities they had come to expect with Windows (such as a Start Menu and the ability to play DVDs) by purchasing the Windows 8 Pro Pack and 3rd party apps. Lucky were we few who had Windows 7 Pro and could make the upgrade for $40 and get a free Media Player add-on to boot before the "bait and switch" occurred.

Reporters are saying that Windows 9 will be "revolutionary" and I guess if MS "gets it right" it will be, in a strictly etymological sense. "Revolution" literally means "to revolve." A Windows 9 that is what people want in an OS might as well be termed Windows 7 -- enhanced version.

Windows 9 Is Not A Band Aid, It's Revolution
Leaked 'Windows 9' screenshots reveal more detail about reborn Start Menu | PCWorld


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## BosPatrollie (Jun 22, 2014)

Well, I don't see the monthly subscription route working out favorably for MS. I do, however, anticipate Threshold to be a decent OS, as history shows us:

Win 98 - good OS
Win Millenium - bad OS
Win NT - Stable OS
Win XP - Good OS
Win Vista - Baaaad OS
Win 7 - Good and Stable OS
Win 8 - Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad OS
Win 9 - Expected to be Great!

It would seem that MS is trying to force into a direction IT wants to take, as expected, instead of following where the market leads.


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## kha204199 (Aug 31, 2014)

humm i wait the os win 9 to fix some bug in 8 & 8.1 like the compatibility driver (VGA) 

and to have a new os


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

A VGA driver is not provided by Windows, but by your Video/Display driver manufacturer


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## VividProfessional (Apr 29, 2009)

what ever happensd my system is running fine on Windows 7 Home Premium and is stable - why bother to upgrade, I dont see any reason to - if its not broken then dont fix it. I have two spare windows 7 licences for future builds so I am not concerned when i build a new pc, but my PC is coming up for two years old and is still very capable of running what I want it to....


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## Wizmo (Apr 3, 2011)

Microsoft has a huge problem with their licensing model, as a large percentage of the world population is low income, has no means to pay a monthly or even annual 'fee,' and is shooting themselves in the foot if they think they can strong-arm their user base into a new revenue model. 

Many non-profits are still running XP due to the inability to afford the O/S and other software upgrades. How about the long-term unemployed and poor?? How could they survive having their O/S shut them out simply due to annual fee non-payment??

The drive towards 'cloud computing' also has serious issues with bandwidth usage (or the lack of availability of it) and obvious security and privacy concerns, among others. In a test of Office 365 we conducted, the user's monitored network bandwidth increased over 175%. How many organizations have factored *this* into their network infrastructure planning? Add cloud storage into the mix and the figures will likely increase even more substantially.

In our experience, Windows 8.x doesn't play well within a business environment and especially older versions of MS Office. WIN7 does, and will continue to (hopefully) for a long time to come. My workstation users resoundingly rejected the installation of WIN8.x. In fact it almost started a mutiny in several departments when we tried to roll it out! Windows 7 PRO is our current workstation standard (on 79 stations total).

I have seen the 'writing on the wall' and am already planning to switch to LINUX for my whole organization and have started to install the dual boots and actively encourage the staff to explore it, even granting 2 hours per week to allow it. When a user log in under LINUX, it is noted on the server. 2 Employees have already _*SWITCHED*_ to it full-time with permission. You'd be surprised at the acceptance of this strategy and adoption of the slight learning curve! With a nice GUI and similar operating properties it makes the transition fun and actually enticing to all who try it. When I finally decide on the best GUI and LINUX 'flavor' implementation for the workplace, I will try to post a more detailed review. We are letting the staff submit their input to this process to make it more democratic (_*NOT THE PARTY!*_) and acceptable to all concerned. NOTE: It's amazing the number of staff who _*voiced objections*_ to the _*use of the word*_ 'democratic' in a recent memo!! Go figure!!

For me and my 'house' it is likely soon to be 'bye-bye MS!' It wasn't fun knowing you, and isn't fun anymore trying to cope with your bullying marketing tactics and use (abuse?) of the clients with widespread 'beta tests' of O/S modifications in the guise of 'Windows updates.'

I switched over to LINUX servers many years ago after dealing with security breeches and BSOD's created after forced 'updates' put us out of business repeatedly. Our accounting and POS systems are all LINUX based now 6 years and it is HEAVEN! IT department costs have been cut by nearly 60% for our network/server infrastructure alone. Instead of 3 IT employees, we now have only 2 (one retired and was not replaced!) and their workload is much lighter than when we were a MS Server shop. They can concentrate on data integrity and redundancy and do not have to deal with putting out MS induced fires!

A company adjacent to our offices just 'upgraded' to Server 2012 and it has been a total nightmare dealing with recurring workstation trusts issues and user account corruptions. It has cost them a ton of $$$ and lost business to resolve these issues with outside consultants and downtime. *NO THANKS!!* Our servers are only rebooted _*MONTHLY*_ now instead of weekly or more frequently under the old MS Servers [2003 and 2008]. Any longer and remote sessions and file shares became sluggish after a few days with the MS Servers. It may not even be necessary to reboot that often with LINUX, but we will err on the side of caution for now. With a 24/7 operation we cannot afford to be downing servers frequently over stability issues. Our neighbor company had to lay off their 3rd shift staff for 6 weeks to resolve their server issues. What was the economic cost to staff and community for that necessity?

Perhaps the 'revolution' will not be to the liking of the king of the market and result in a massive re-think of the whole dynamic . . . or not! The operative word here is 'DYNAMIC!' Have they (MS) not already learned, with the low acceptance of WIN8.x that there are consequences with miscalculation? I have personally 'downgraded' 85% of our staff's recent personal PC purchases to WIN7 at their request, and using our own IT staff. After all, they have the time to do this now with a drastically lessened workload! Fortunately, the PC manufacturers are still offering the dual O/S WIN7/8 options on new machines for the most part.

*DISCLAIMER:* The above is my _*personal opinion*_, based upon my own and other industry partners' significant experience and may not be representative of your situation or results. I simply refused to be forced to deal with the problems associated with the MS model as it affected my business model. As in all things, "_*your mileage may vary!*_" :ermm:

*Interestingly enough, the 'earth moved' (small tremor, smaller aftershock) just as I was about to post this! Don't know if it means anything, but only time will tell....* :whistling:

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

I could go for the subscription scheme if they were to price the operating system similar to Office 360 . . With Office 360, I get all the Office programs ( including Access )on 5 machines ( including Apple ) for $100 per year . . effectively, $20/yr per machine. I get the newest versions and do not have to spend $400 per machine for new versions every 4 - 5 years . . and I can swap the subscriptions on different machines anytime I want


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## Wizmo (Apr 3, 2011)

Old Rich said:


> I could go for the subscription scheme if they were to price the operating system similar to Office 360 . . With Office 360, I get all the Office programs ( including Access )on 5 machines ( including Apple ) for $100 per year . . effectively, $20/yr per machine. I get the newest versions and do not have to spend $400 per machine for new versions every 4 - 5 years . . and I can swap the subscriptions on different machines anytime I want


Good point Rich. Other than the issue of increased network traffic with Office 360 (and more with cloud storage), I see the licensing policy with Office 360 as a step in the right direction from an economy and TCO standpoint. I feel that the one policy I approve of with the Apple O/S is the pricing and easy access to (frequent) upgrades.

The opposite side of the coin is the 'planned obsolescence' of software that MAC O/S changes seem to force, even between minor version revisions. Case in point is the inability to run the new Skype version on the original MAC Mini's which can not be upgraded past a certain O/S level. My dad's MAC tower has the same issue, that the O/S versions required for certain current software versions restricts his ability to use these services. For the most part this does not happen nearly as often with PC O/S's where backwards compatibility is usually a driving concern. I am obviously not a MAC fanboi!

Most issues of software incompatibility are more driven by the data bus width and corresponding software (8, 16, 32 and 64 bit) as the PC technology advances. Note the new separate folders for Program Files starting with Vista/WIN7. There are often some ways around this with 'compatibility mode' provisions in Windows O/S versions. This actually involves 'lying' to the software as to the actual O/S version which allows the software which looks to the O/S version to decide whether to run or not. The funniest example is a software package I tried to install and run that told me I needed to 'UPGRADE' my O/S to 'Windows 98 or higher' when I was actually running XP! That is a 'higher' version of Windows than 98, no? It was a native 16 bit program which would not run in any compatibility mode.

From an infrastructure viewpoint, tests I have run with Office 360 and using various cloud storage facilities have shown this will vastly impact business systems. The greatest impact will be with larger organizations having to expand their network/internet capacity considerably to accommodate the increased bandwidth. Matters of privacy/security of data also arise with these new modalities of software delivery and data storage. With users accessing their personal cloud storage, our company network/internet traffic has already measurably increased. It creates increased burdens on proxy and firewall facilities as well, although the impact is somewhat less than bandwidth in general.

I would be interested in the experiences of others with these issues, if there is any real world data available. 

__________________
In this world there are too many politicians and far too much politics.

Poly - meaning many
tics - meaning blood-sucking parasites


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

I don't use the cloud services so cannot speak to that . . thus network traffic is not an issue


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Microsoft News | Windows 9 Technical Preview For Enterprise Coming Next Month


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## BosPatrollie (Jun 22, 2014)

Old Rich said:


> I don't use the cloud services so cannot speak to that . . thus network traffic is not an issue


Not at the moment, but MS is trying to 'force' the market to shift a lot more towards cloud services ... even on their Phone O/Ss they are forcing users to revert to SkyDrive etc. They are forcing a Live Account. I wonder when they are going to learn that you can be a bully for only so long ...


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## Wizmo (Apr 3, 2011)

BosPatrollie said:


> Not at the moment, but MS is trying to 'force' the market to shift a lot more towards cloud services ... even on their Phone O/Ss they are forcing users to revert to SkyDrive etc. They are forcing a Live Account. I wonder when they are going to learn that you can be a bully for only so long ...


Can't happen soon enough for me!

__________________
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
-- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


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## dragonstear (Sep 20, 2014)

I mean, you wouldn't HAVE to buy it.

There would still be the "old" CDs for Windows 7, 8, etc.


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## Wizmo (Apr 3, 2011)

dragonstear said:


> I mean, you wouldn't HAVE to buy it.
> 
> There would still be the "old" CDs for Windows 7, 8, etc.


No one _*HAS TO*_ buy anything they don't actually want to! :grin:

I just pulled my old _*386SX, DOS 6.x, Desqview, 8MB RAM, 270MB hdd, Wildcat! BBS with 5 dialup modem 'nodes'*_ equipped PC out of the closet and fired it up just for laughs. * IT STILL WORKS*, after having been stored since 1993. Not that anyone calls BBS's anymore or would even like to play Tradewars or Global War online again.

You get the point. I am quite convinced and hopeful that eventually MS is going to push a bit too far and the computing public is going to say _*ENOUGH*_ at some point! For example, I will _*never*_ trust my precious data and personal information to any 'CLOUD' server over which I have no direct control, nor do I know 'who's running the show' at the other end! Likely the CIA or NSA if Mr. Snowden's revelations are anywhere near correct. External HDD's are _*CHEAP*_ and fairly reliable, especially if you keep multiple secure copies of your backups.

Just look at what some of the failed photo sharing portals like Everpix have done to people who trusted them.

Out of the picture: why the world's best photo startup is going out of business | The Verge

State of Photo Sharing 2014 — carpeaqua by Justin Williams


I have for decades shot studio and location baby pictures for my many clients (think bare skin on a bearskin rug, on a beach or in a tub) and would _*NEVER*_ store backups of these photos anywhere other than somewhere I have full control of. Just imagine what would happen if some idiot plundering through my legitimate photos decided '_*they*_' in their warped little mind thought it was _*illegal content*_? Can you say witch hunt and massive legal bills?? Back in the days of film photography a good friend was arrested and prosecuted for just such images _*commissioned by the parents, and developed in a private professional lab*_. He eventually prevailed, but at a cost of over $40,000 in legal bills.

These are extreme examples, but who do you trust in today's litigious world? 

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you!" 

__________________
"I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

Wizmo said:


> No one _*HAS TO*_ buy anything they don't actually want to! :grin:
> 
> I just pulled my old _*386SX, DOS 6.x, Desqview, 8MB RAM, 270MB hdd, Wildcat! BBS with 5 dialup modem 'nodes'*_ equipped PC out of the closet and fired it up just for laughs. * IT STILL WORKS*, after having been stored since 1993. Not that anyone calls BBS's anymore or would even like to play Tradewars or Global War online again.
> 
> ...



trade wars, now that was fun. used to stay up until just past midnight after the reboot just to play it. It was the only time I was into gaming. enjoyed playing Legend of the Red Dragon. I also ran a bbs near the end of the bbsing era. I miss that time, though, the only thing I dont miss is the 300-400 dollar phone bills downloading files and getting messages from fidonet. 

as far as those pictures, I wonder how many of our parents or grandparents have pictures that could get them arrested in todays climate.


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## Wizmo (Apr 3, 2011)

sobeit said:


> trade wars, now that was fun. used to stay up until just past midnight after the reboot just to play it. It was the only time I was into gaming. enjoyed playing Legend of the Red Dragon. I also ran a bbs near the end of the bbsing era. I miss that time, though, the only thing I dont miss is the 300-400 dollar phone bills downloading files and getting messages from fidonet.


It sure was good to have that sysop local login node to get in before the crowd on the online games! I almost got fired playing 'Asylum' around that time. It took me 31 days to beat that one, albeit not an online game....



sobeit said:


> as far as those pictures, I wonder how many of our parents or grandparents have pictures that could get them arrested in todays climate.


I'm sure that my grandparents would definitely get arrested for the pic of the FOUR of us boys sitting on the edge of the tub looking over our shoulders! Those were the days - less PC BS and more family gatherings and truly innocent fun. My folks have a collage of photos on the wall which includes a classic 'bareskin on a rug' shot of each of us at about age ONE. My brothers are sometimes embarrassed by them but as a professional photographer they have an artistic quality that I appreciate.

Nope, no 'cloud' software or 'cloud' storage backups for me thank you! Too many prying eyes and no control over who has access. Just look at what happened with iCloud! If you can't trust Apple, then who can you trust? [now to carefully remove tongue from cheek!]

Actually, I think Ben had the right ideas below.

__________________
“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
- Benjamin Franklin

"Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Remember - HARDWARE is the part of the computer that can be KICKED!"
- WIZMO


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

I was on the user end of a BBS. Headquarters had paid for an incoming Watts line, so when I "called in" it was free.


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