False Alarm: Windows 12 Won’t Require Subscription After All

False Alarm: Windows 12 Won’t Require Subscription After All

The story initially discovered by German media Deskmodder has revealed parts of code in the latest Windows 11 Canary build that contained references to a subscription-based service, such as “Subscription Edition”, “Subscription Type”, and “Subscription status”.

Given that Microsoft has made it clear many years ago Windows will move into “Windows as a Service” business model, it’s not hard to see if the Redmond company may delve into the idea of monthly-based payments, even if it may be an unpopular decision for some. However, Windows Central has offers their part of the investigation, and cleared the air on the matter. “These references are almost definitely tied to the newly discovered “IoT Enterprise Subscription” edition of Windows 11, not the client version of Windows vNext (12),” the outlet noted.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft is exploring the idea of subscription-based OS, though. In fact, it’s available now: it’s called the Windows 365. Much like Office 365, which is paid in monthly or yearly basis, Windows 365 is an option that allows small businesses to large organizations to readily access a Windows system at any place they wish – think of it like Xbox Game Pass, but for the entire PC. It’s still currently a business-exclusive offering, but it likely won’t be long before Microsoft opens it to regular consumers.

That being said, a subscription-based OS is pretty much uncharted waters here – no consumer OS before this has ever been offered this way, be it macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS and others (Linux are mostly free – though paid and/or subscription-based enterprise OSes exist). Despite so, only Microsoft has the market power to launch such a solution for consumer market, as other OSes simply has no ground to compete against Windows when it comes to PC market share, thus simply unable to take such risks.

Pokdepinion: If Windows 11 is any indication, making Windows 12 a subscription-based solution would be a real terrible idea. Glad it’s not the case – for now.