They didn't stay backed down for long, though. It was only six months later that they were announcing Windows 10 S, a gimped version of the OS which didn't even allow the option of turning side-loading on unless you paid to upgrade from WX S to WX Pro. They ended up making upgrades free for the rest of 2017, because the Windows (later Microsoft) Store was still a wasteland of shit that consumers wanted no part of. Oh, and WX S was also unusably bad, because there were no apps for fucking thing.
Well, it turns out Microsoft still isn't done trying to force Windows users onto their horrible, horrible digital storefront for fucking everything, because they're trying yet again to do exactly that. Just, you know, not with people who've already switched over. No, it's only new WX users who'll get fucked.
From Tech Republic:
Windows 10: Get ready for more PCs that only run Microsoft Store apps by default
Microsoft is planning to update all versions of Windows 10 to incorporate S Mode, which will limit the machine to only installing apps from the Microsoft Store, according to a leaked roadmap.Because of course they are. This has always been the plan.
The article continues:
Microsoft is planning to update all versions of Windows 10 to incorporate S Mode, which will limit the machine to only installing apps from the Microsoft Store, according to a leaked roadmap.
The roadmap suggests that PC makers will be able to lock a wider range of Windows 10 machines to only running Microsoft Store apps by default.
Users of Windows 10 Home and Education editions will be able to upgrade to a standard, unrestricted version free of charge, while users of Windows 10 Pro will be charged $49 to switch. However, Windows 10 Pro S, which appears to be a version of Windows that defaults to running in S Mode, will be confined to lower-end machines.
The change in approach means that PCs will also cease being sold with Windows 10 S, a version of the OS which could only run Microsoft Store apps.
However, if a wider range of Windows 10 PCs are sold with S Mode enabled by default, then the reluctance of many users to alter Windows' settings could boost the number of people using Microsoft Store apps. The tech site Thurrot.com was shown Microsoft figures that suggest 60 percent of users of low-end devices stick with Windows 10 S, rather than upgrading it to the unrestricted Windows 10 Pro.Especially now that "upgrading" to a Windows version that lets you install fucking software costs extra, am I right?
This has always been Microsoft's game plan for Windows 10: to force as many people into their WX ecosystem as possible, and then make it progressively harder for them to ever leave. Microsoft want to be Apple, with Windows users locked to WX in the same way that iOS users are locked to the App Store, buying only Microsoft-approved software through Microsoft's storefront, with Microsoft taking a cut of every sale.
Windows 10 is not, and never has been, free. It was always going to cost you; first in the harvesting of your data and metadata, and then in the form of restricting your choices as a consumer. It's taken Microsoft a while, and several failed attempts, to figure out how they want to pitch that vision of personal computing's future, but they have clearly not given up on it. At all.
But wait! It gets worse.
Microsoft's shiny new "S Mode" strategy naturally comes with a carve-out for the anti virus software industry, in order to keep them from re-filing their antitrust legal actions in the EU and elsewhere:
Microsoft has also indicated that there will be an exception in Windows S mode, with the OS able to run non-Microsoft Store anti-virus apps.And, of course, there's even more bullshit on tap, here. Were you planning to buy a new gaming PC? Then expect to pay more to unlock the ability to install the Steam client, or any of the games on your Steam account:
The leaked roadmap also revealed Microsoft's plans to further vary Windows licensing costs depending on the specs of the PC it's installed upon.
Microsoft will classify five types of PC: Entry, Value, Core, Core + and Advanced. These specs will range from, at the Entry level: Intel Atom/Celeron/Pentium ≤ 4GB RAM & ≤ 32GB SSD AND ≤ 14.1" screen size (NB), ≤ 11.6" (2in1, Tablet), ≥ 17" AiO; to, at the Advanced level: Intel Core i9 (any configuration) OR Core i7 ≥ 6 Cores (any RAM) OR AMD Threadripper(any configuration) OR Intel Core i7 >16GB (any Cores) or AMD FX/ Ryzen7 >16GB (any Cores) OR ≥ 4K screen resolution (any processor, includes 4K UHD-3840 resolution.
The licensing costs to the PC maker will be: Advanced ($101), Core + ($86.66), Core ($65.45), Value ($45), and Entry ($25). Most of these new prices will come into effect from April 2nd and for Home Advanced from May 1st.Those "Advanced" specs would include my 5½-year-old AMD-FX6300 (6 cores, 3.5 GHz, 16 GB of RAM). Which means that basically any half-decent new gaming PC will now come with S Mode enabled by default, and a US$101 price tag to access your Steam library. Because you have to know that PC makers will be passing that cost along to their customers.
And that's for "Home Advanced," not for any sort of "Pro" edition that gives users extra control over their PCs. Your version of Windows as still just a crappy as an "Entry" version... it's just going to cost you more, because your PC is nicer. Because of course it will. Because Microsoft are assholes.
To describe this as monopolistic, anti-competitve, and anti-consumer is to completely fail to encompass the truly egregious nature of it all. And yet, clearly, something like this was always the plan. The details may have evolved over the last couple of years, but the goal has not, and the goal is pure horseshit. Darth Microsoft have, once again, altered the deal... and they done it just as consumers seemed to be coming around to embracing their bullshit-filled product.
Fuck you Microsoft. I will seriously go Linux before I pay you $100 or more for Windows 10 Home, just because I happen to be a PC gamer, just so that I can continue to play the hundreds of dollars of games that I already own, rather than buying them all over again through you. Fuck you, and fuck your fucking bullshit OS, too.
Fuck.