Microsoft is planning to charge businesses a subscription cost of $7 per month per user to use Windows 10.
The subscription model, which will go by the name of “Windows 10 Enterprise E3,” attempts to copy Microsoft’s other subscription model software packages such as “Office 365” in a move to further cash in on their latest operating system.
Despite the subscription model, which will be implemented to Enterprise versions of the OS this fall, the change is unlikely to affect personal users at this point, with one Microsoft spokesperson stating, “This new subscription model is not associated with our current upgrade offering or applicable to the Windows 10 consumer edition.”
“Windows 10 Enterprise E3 for CSP is for business customers of any size (including one person) to get enterprise features and functionality on a per monthly/per seat cost,” added the spokesperson.
In the future, however, a subscription model for personal users might be likely, with Microsoft now considering Windows 10 as a “service” that will never be replaced by another Windows operating system, unlike their previous business model.
Last week it was reported that Microsoft were set to miss their goal of having the operating system on one billion devices by mid-2018, despite the company’s controversial attempts at getting more users on the system.
“We’re pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of one billion monthly active devices,” said a Microsoft spokesperson to the Register. “In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices – and increasing customer delight with Windows.”
Users have until July 29th to upgrade to Windows 10 for free from Windows 7 or 8.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.