Microsoft wants to change the way it monetizes Windows

As Microsoft continues to lower the price of Windows, even offering it for free on phones and smaller tablets, many people have been hoping that the company’s next release of the world’s most popular operating would drop the pay-per-license system that has been used for decades in favor of a free use system that’s supported by revenue from other services.

Now, following a recent Q&A with Microsoft COO Kevin Turner in Arizona, ExtremeTech is reporting that the company may very well drop the pay-per-license system for Windows 10, which is launching sometime next year, but not in the way that many people hoped.

When asked if Microsoft planned to turn Windows into a loss leader, which is where a product is sold for less than its market cost in order to stimulate other products or services, Turner said that the company had “not had any conversations” on this. He did, however, mention that the company intends to change the way it makes money from Windows.

“We’ve got to monetize Windows differently,” Turner told an audience at a technology conference sponsored by Credit Suisse, as quoted by Computer World. “There are additional opportunities for us to bring additional services to the product and do it in a creative way.”

Based on Turners comments, many people are speculating that Microsoft will be switching to a subscription-based model for Windows 10. This would certainly fit in with the moves that the company has been making recently, such as offering free versions of Microsoft Office but charging a subscription fee for more advanced services. It also aligns quite well with the vision that Microsoft has for its future under the lead of its newly appointed CEO, Satya Nadella.

“The first 39 years of our company, we had one of the greatest business models of all time built around certainly the Windows client operating system, and the PC operating system, and catching that wave of innovation certainly was very good to the company,” said Turner, as quoted by GeekWire, addressing the new realities that the company must face.

“This was our past,” he continued. “If you look at our future, it’s really about becoming a Cloud OS, a devices operating system, having first party hardware to light up those experiences, and really being the company that can uniquely provide for dual-users this idea of digital work and digital life experiences.”

It wasn’t too long after the conference in Arizona that TorrentFreak reported that Microsoft is willing to sue users who activate too many illegal copies of its products, such as Windows or Office. This is in stark contrast to Microsoft’s usual to privacy, which is basically just accept it. Whatever the future holds for Windows users, it’s becoming more and more clear that the old Microsoft is disappearing, and a new one is taking its place.