Microsoft's new business model: Windows 10? Pay for it!

Microsoft's new business model: Windows 10? Pay for it!
GuideWindows 10 is a symbolic product of Microsoft. With the change of the times, Windows authorization revenue is declining. In desperation, Microsoft had to find a new way to "squeeze" more money from customers. ZDNET recently published an analysis of Microsoft's policy changes. In general, Microsoft's goal is to encourage users to upgrade from the Home edition to the Professional Edition operating system, so that Professional Edition users can be upgraded to Enterprise Edition users.

Briefing

Recently, all Windows 10 articles I have read are related to features, user interfaces, upgrade mechanisms, and privacy policies. No one seems willing to talk about the changes in Microsoft's Windows business model. Even Microsoft keeps silence. How can we make Windows revenue? Although Microsoft has completely changed its business strategy, many details are not truly exposed.

In a word, the price that OEM Enterprises pay for Windows is falling. The prices paid by large OEMs for Windows are strictly confidential. In the past few years, the price has been greatly reduced, which is no doubt. In fact, in some devices-such as small tablets, the OEM price for Windows is close to zero.

Consumers are still buying PCs, but sales of new PCs continue to decline. Fewer PCs are sold, and the revenue of each server is lower, which leads to a sharp decline in Windows authorization revenue for bundled PC sales. On the other hand, the development, distribution, and support costs for Windows have not declined. To ensure profit margins, Microsoft is actively looking for new methods to persuade Windows users to pay for additional products and services.

This change did not happen suddenly. Over the years, there have been several major trends that have driven this transformation. WindowsOEM authorized revenue once dominated Microsoft's balance sheet. Today, this business is still large, but Microsoft has multiple departments with revenues of billions of dollars, and WindowsOEM's authorized revenue cannot even reach the top three.

For enterprise customers, there is nothing new about this change. However, for the enthusiasts and consultants who work with small businesses, this change is a bit unexpected and may lead to resistance.

In the past, Microsoft's Windows revenue mainly came from two sources: OEM authorization and enterprise authorization. For most non-enterprise customers, the Windows authorization cost is only a small part of the new PC cost. In contrast, you do not care too much about the Windows authorization cost. Instead, you pay more attention to how much the OEM has paid for CPU and memory chips.

Microsoft now has several new revenue sources, one of which is APP sales (via WindowsStore) and service sales (such as Office), and the other is version upgrade revenue, for example, upgrade from "Family edition" to "Professional Edition" and from "Professional Edition" to "Enterprise Edition ". The customer upgraded from a low-price "Family edition" to a higher-price "Enterprise Edition". This business has become an important part of Microsoft's plan. Next let's take a closer look at the three versions of software to see how Microsoft has made users pay more.

Family Edition

There is a basic proposition about Windows 10 Family edition: Install and forget it. Once upon a time, frugal PC users could barely cope with the installation of the home operating system. No, many traditional management and configuration options have been deleted.

For example, you cannot postpone the upgrade. Both quality upgrades (such as PatchTuesday and Tuesday patches) and functional upgrades (such as major upgrades, including annual updates) are fully controlled by Microsoft. Now the user-defined selection area is narrower. In the past, some features were equipped with the "Switch" button, which can be freely selected. Currently, you can only manually register for updates.

Microsoft also launched the so-called Windows 10 "consumer experience" (ConsumerExperience), which can increase the value-added promotion opportunities and the information will be automatically displayed in the Start Menu, for example, microsoft will recommend apps on the left and a maximum of five "Tiles" (porcelain stickers) on the Right, similar to Twitter services and the game Candy crushing legend. The Get Office application is included in every Windows 10 system, which induces users to try Office for free, and then allows users to pay monthly or annual usage fees.

Professional Edition

In the past, users could unlock some "Professional Edition" functions, such as "BitLockerDrive Encryption (drive disk Encryption technology)", only after upgrading to Windows Enterprise Edition (such as Windows 7 Professional Edition and Ultimate Edition )", or connect to the PC through "RemoteDesktop Protocol (Remote Desktop Protocol. This practice still applies to Windows 10 Professional Edition. If you want to add a PC to a Windows domain, you must use the Professional Edition system.

The biggest change is the "Group Policy Editor", which is exclusive to the Professional Edition system. In the previous Windows operating system, the Group Policy Editor was basically an enterprise management tool. In Windows 10, this function is required to configure "WindowsUpdate for Business. With "WindowsUpdate for Business", Microsoft continues to provide fixes, security upgrades, and new features for Windows 10 enterprise users, giving them more control. If you want to upgrade the system to a new version

Windows has been postponed (up to four months later) and must be paid for Professional Edition upgrades. The most affordable way is to buy a new PC from an OEM. Many enterprise-level PCs (including SurfacePro and SurfaceBook) have included windows 10 in their purchase prices. Some enterprises provide customized PCs (such as Dell), and upgrade to the professional operating system requires only $40. If your new PC has a Windows 10 home OS installed, you will have to pay $199 to upgrade it to the Professional Edition after purchase.

In the eyes of consultants managing small businesses, Windows 10 Professional Edition is a little disappointing: ConsumerExperience cannot be disabled ). In other words, after each feature upgrade, you must manually delete the recommendation APP. "GroupPolicy Editor" provides several options, which only exist in the Enterprise Edition operating system. The above is just one of them.

Enterprise Edition

In all versions of Windows, the Enterprise Edition is the easiest to misunderstand. The Enterprise Edition system can only be obtained through Upgrade. It is enterprise-oriented and requires the authorization of the underlying Professional Edition. In addition, the Enterprise Edition operating system requires additional authorization. For example, the system can run Windows on four platforms at the same time only after being authorized.

In the past, Windows sold the Enterprise Edition operating system in the form of "volume authorization (VolumeLicensing)", so small enterprises could not enjoy this benefit. Since the beginning of this month, the policy has changed. Small Enterprises and independent individuals can purchase windows 10 Enterprise Edition operating systems through paid subscriptions, at $7 a month.

The enterprise operating system has rich management functions, such as "WindowsUpdate for Business". Users can skip annoying consumer experiences through "GroupPolicy. The reason why Microsoft made changes was mainly because some people were satisfied with the Home Edition operating system and did not want to upgrade the professional edition. It wanted to change users' habits. In addition, microsoft also wants to encourage users to upgrade from the Professional edition to the Enterprise Edition. In short, please prepare for the payment.

From: http:// OS .51cto.com/art/201609/517007.htm

Address: http://www.linuxprobe.com/windows-10-pay.html