References to subscription 'edition,' 'type,' and 'status' found in a test build of Windows.

[A]n INI configuration file in the Windows Canary channel, discovered by German website Deskmodder, includes references to a “Subscription Edition,” “Subscription Type,” and a “subscription status.”

    • @ilinamorato@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1•9 months ago

      For a lot of people, yeah. But everyone assumed that the year of FOSS media software would come with Adobe Creative Cloud, but most people just grumbled and paid it anyway.

      • @Chobbes@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1•9 months ago

        Most people would probably end up paying the subscription rather than relearning everything they already know. It may have long term impacts, but, like… I don’t think this would make the average person switch to Linux. If any migration happens I’d expect more people to switch to Macs than Linux over time because that’s more of a mainstream option.

        That said there’s lots of interesting stuff going on in the Linux world right now, and it’s slowly but surely becoming a more interesting option for a lot of people. Valve’s work on Proton / Linux in general is pretty huge. I still think you’d need a huge marketing push to convince the average person (which people on Lemmy are not) to install Linux themselves, or prefer buying a laptop with Linux pre-installed, though. It could happen eventually, and has happened in special cases (like the Steam Deck)… But short term I think most people are just going to pay a yearly subscription rather than upend their entire computing life.

        • @ilinamorato@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1•9 months ago

          Although that said… Microsoft is trying to take some market share back from ChromeOS and iPadOS in the education world, and I can’t imagine schools devoting any budget to Windows rentals.

          • @Chobbes@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2•9 months ago

            Depends how Microsoft handles education licenses. I think historically they’ve been pretty good about giving university students licenses for free, and if they consider the education sector important enough (which they probably should) I am certain they could provide generous terms. If the schools don’t have to pay for the licenses I’m not sure they would bother switching off of windows at least. It will be interesting to see how the ChromeOS dominance in education plays out in the future, though!