10 the last Windows version?

I'm taking a guess here as to what Microsoft means in their claim that Windows 10 will be the "last version of Windows released."

I think what we'll see is the Apple model of 10.x.x. In other words, the OS will continue to evolve but the nomenclature won't. There will likely be some a higher degree of standardization with regard to features and format than we have seen in the past to make the transitions more seamless from the endpoint user perspective. The changes will be more subtle and "under the hood" rather than big leaps as we have seen in the past when new versions of Windows were released.

I think this whole approach will have a big impact on application developers as their product versions will likely remain compatible for longer time periods and consumers will not be motivated to buy the latest version because of compatibility problems with the OS. Software makers will be forced to become truly innovative.

"Last version of Windows" has been thrown around yes, and people got that to mean, free updates for life....
However (!)
Thus far, no one on the forums has been able to link to any written proof to that and the only thing I've been able to find is that Windows 10 as it is today, will reach its End Of Life on October 14, 2025.

In other words, just like Windows 8 will expire on 2023, so will Windows 10 a couple of years later. Proof is in the official Microsoft Windows lifecycle fact sheet:



I have been unsuccessful in getting anyone to provide anything concrete from Microsoft that would contradict that.

We are therefore left with speculation as far as what will happen to Windows 10, after 2025.

I expect the same thing, with either .1 increments or some other terminology used.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/7/8568473/windows-10-last-version-of-windows

"Right now we’re releasing Windows 10, and because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, we’re all still working on Windows 10." That was the message from Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon, a developer evangelist speaking at the company's Ignite conference this week. Nixon was explaining how Microsoft was launching Windows 8.1 last year, but in the background it was developing Windows 10. Now, Microsoft employees can talk freely about future updates to Windows 10 because there's no secret update in the works coming next. It's all just Windows 10. While it immediately sounds like Microsoft is killing off Windows and not doing future versions, the reality is a little more complex. The future is "Windows as a service."

Right, but that is spoken of as just an idea, not a plan.
What people (irresponsibly) do is not acknowledge that this "idea" cannot be implemented before the end of 2025.
It's 2016, and we are talking about what will happen almost 10 (ten) years from now.

The fact that Microsoft would like to implement Windows as a Service is indisputable. But they cannot do so before 2025, for current Windows 10 license owners.

True but the fact stands that he said it (or something close to it) and the average person's attention span is too short to encompass the whole newscast/video/text/newspaper (hence the idea of TLDR), extrapolate from there

You would acknowledge that this forum was also being used to disseminate disinformation about Windows 10 for consumers switching to a "Windows as a Service" business model, whereas that is simply not the case.

Stay with me on this. If this were 2012 and Windows 8 came out... if someone were to talk about what will happen in 2023, eleven years from then, when Windows 8 reaches end of life, then that would have nothing to do with Windows 8. The support life for Windows 8 is from 2012 to 2023. After that Windows 8 ends.

Well the support life for Windows 10 is 2015-2025. After that Windows 10 in its current form ends. So talking about what will happen after a product's life cycle ends and conventionality leaving out that part to make it sound like the talk affects current license owners is disingenuous, do you not agree?

Support life has nothing to do with it. They still support Windows Vista but have developed 3-4 generations (depending how you see Windows 8/8.1) of OS's since then.

Agreed but then again the image you posted could have just been a placeholder until they figure out what to really do, saying Windows 10 will be the last Windows could just be that from now on all versions will be called simply "Windows", a meteor could fall down on M$ headquarters tonight and this truly be the last iteration.

Too many could's/if's/but's/maybe's and we don't have anything really until they decide to talk unless someone knows any developers that could throw some decent hints our way

I think one thing that is going on here is in fact that Microsoft is seeing the wisdom of focusing their energies and resources on supporting one OS instead of paying staff to support four different generations of operating systems.

Of course they can come come up with something new, as far as either product or the business model.
But current license owners will not be affected.

When you say "Support life has nothing to do with it"... what else is there?
I mean after we buy Windows, we get security updates, that's it. It's the security updates that matter, it's the one and only thing.
I can "use" Vista in perpetuity - but there are no more security updates for Vista.

Security Updates for current Windows 10 license owners expire in October of 2025 - that is the one and only relevant thing.
Everything else, new products before 2025, what happens after Windows expires in 2025 - that has *nothing* to do with today's consumer owners of Windows 10 licenses, us.


I mean other than DirectX 12, there is pretty much zero actual reason to switch from Windows 8 to Windows 10 now.
But of course, even though I can't put DirectX 12 to use, I actually am getting that free Windows 10 license while I still can, because in 2023, I can switch to Windows 10 and get 2.5 years of extra updates.

In 2023, it will be a big deal, a huge deal if you have that Windows 10 license because you will get free updates for extra 2.5 years with it.
All the other talk is about a product that is not Windows 10 that we own today. Maybe I am missing something, but what else is relevant, other than security updates, which are free of charge until 2025?

What I meant was that the support life of Windows 10 extending until 2025 does not prevent them or even discourage them from starting the development of other OS versions before that, historically speaking.

But as far as Windows goes, Microsoft has publicly stated no more Windows.

Yes of course, you are correct. Absolutely.
On the forums and elsewhere however, 10 times out of 10, talk of other OS version was used as proof to suggest that current Windows 10 will not be free. And it's hard confronting that falsehood because people love to run with that.

Anything else is a true, but separate story from current Windows 10.

As for no more Windows, the writing is on the wall, Desktops are in decline...
By 2025 perhaps things will be in a different perspective, just as in 2016 talk of VHS tapes, or beepers, or even CDs now is in a "different perspective".

I stocked up one day on Chrome Cassette Tapes because they were on clearance at the super market. What a stupid foolish move that was.
I couldn't imagine a world without cassette tapes.

Maybe in a similar way today, we can't imagine a world without Windows as we know it?

Ive said this before but I think "Windows as a service" will depend in net neutrality. This seems very relevant to the topic. If internet access becomes as a utility in our lives then I see MS moving towards a service as being much more viable. As of now there are still users who are not online and MS will not want to let them have an OS for free.

Because it would be INCONCEIVABLE!!! to give away an OS

Kenrou said:

Because it would be INCONCEIVABLE!!! to give away an OS

Click to expand...

Well yeah. If you aren't online how can they data mine you? How can they justify the cost of their "free" OS? So as I said, I think windows as a service is unlikely until we can be sure that the Internet is as well used as the telephone... Which no one had for free either (I know there are exceptions but phone service has been largely a pay for service with little to no way around it for my entire life). I just don't think MS will take a chance @ windows as a service until they have monopoly like control of the market - which they can't have if people are offline.

But nine days from now, Windows 10 will no longer be free, right?

Yes, in 9 days they will begin to charge you currency as well as mined data.

Perhaps I should frame this differently. Does anyone think that if/when Windows as a service becomes a reality, that offline users will be allowed to use the OS for free? Even old OS (Win95/98/Xp) are nearly full priced if they can be had at all.

I'm really not sure what you mean, Windows can be phone activated. No internet required for activation.

SLUI.EXE 4

Choose your country and call number displayed on screen and read your installation ID.

Microsoft tells you what it is and and you enter Confirmation ID to confirm your installation.

I had thought windows as a service would be tied to online capabilities. I never considered phone service activation. That puts a whole new dimension on it.