August 7th, 2018 at 2:01 PM
It's only natural for them to go about this route. Ubuntu and many other big-name linux distributions have been doing something like this for a while.
The difference? Ubuntu has, more or less, remained committed to its userbase, whether free or not, and they realize hands-down that it is because of their popularity in the free and open source world that they have the footprint available to monetize their managed and support-tiered options. Well, really, it's more of professional support, but ultimately the same idea, more or less. They do this for businesses, not necessarily for everyday users.
There's honestly no telling what Microsoft will do with this. Windows has historically been aimed to be much easier to maintain than Linux, so the idea of a "managed windows deskop" seems a bit off to me. Based on the last few years, I don't think I'd be terribly surprised if they did start pushing this heavily on consumer users. If they were to do so, it would be a major blow to them. No other consumer, desktop operating system currently requires its developing company to "manage" it in order to work smoothly.
But honestly, my feeling is that it's more intended for businesses, at least as of right now (and right now only). It may be a window towards pushing this on consumers, but only time will tell. Knowing Microsoft, it would not really be all that surprising. As for me, I think I like my Mac better. It doesn't auto update and break my computer when I'm writing an important research paper.
The difference? Ubuntu has, more or less, remained committed to its userbase, whether free or not, and they realize hands-down that it is because of their popularity in the free and open source world that they have the footprint available to monetize their managed and support-tiered options. Well, really, it's more of professional support, but ultimately the same idea, more or less. They do this for businesses, not necessarily for everyday users.
There's honestly no telling what Microsoft will do with this. Windows has historically been aimed to be much easier to maintain than Linux, so the idea of a "managed windows deskop" seems a bit off to me. Based on the last few years, I don't think I'd be terribly surprised if they did start pushing this heavily on consumer users. If they were to do so, it would be a major blow to them. No other consumer, desktop operating system currently requires its developing company to "manage" it in order to work smoothly.
But honestly, my feeling is that it's more intended for businesses, at least as of right now (and right now only). It may be a window towards pushing this on consumers, but only time will tell. Knowing Microsoft, it would not really be all that surprising. As for me, I think I like my Mac better. It doesn't auto update and break my computer when I'm writing an important research paper.
