Pay to play Microsoft Win10 to determine a new business model

Windows 10 is Microsoft's iconic product, and as the times change, Windows licensing revenues continue to decline. In desperation, Microsoft had to find a new way to "squeeze" more money from customers. ZDNET recently published an analysis of Microsoft's strategic changes. In general, Microsoft's goal is to encourage users to upgrade from the home version to the professional version of the operating system, allowing professional users to upgrade to enterprise users.

Recently, all the Windows 10 articles I read are related to features, user interfaces, upgrade mechanisms, and privacy policies. It seems that no one is willing to talk about changes in the Microsoft Windows business model. Even Microsoft itself remains silent. How to get Windows to earn revenue? Although Microsoft has completely changed its business strategy, many details have not really been exposed.

In a word: the price paid by OEMs for Windows is declining. The price paid by large OEMs for Windows is strictly confidential. In the past few years, it has been an indisputable fact that the price has dropped drastically. This is no doubt. In fact, in some devices —— such as small tablets, the OEM price of Windows is close to zero.

Consumers are still buying PCs, but sales of new PCs are declining. There were fewer PCs sold, and each revenue was lower, which led to a sharp decline in Windows licensing revenues for bundled PC sales. On the other hand, the cost of development, distribution, and support for Windows has not declined. To ensure profit margins, Microsoft is actively looking for new ways to persuade Windows users to pay for additional products and services.

This change is not a sudden happen. Over the years, several major trends have driven this shift. Windows OEM-licensed revenues once dominated Microsoft's balance sheet. Today, this business is still huge, but Microsoft's multiple departments have revenues of several billion dollars, and Windows OEM authorized revenues can not enter the top three.

For corporate customers, this shift is nothing new. But for those enthusiasts and consultants who work with small businesses, this shift is a bit of a surprise, and they may also create resistance.

Reviewing the past, Microsoft Windows revenue has two main sources: one is OEM license, and the other is enterprise license. For most non-enterprise customers, Windows licensing costs only account for a small fraction of the cost of new PCs. In contrast, you don't care too much about the licensing costs of Windows. What you pay more attention to is how much the OEM pays for the CPU and memory chips.

Now Microsoft has several new revenue sources, one of which is APP sales (via WindowsStore) and service sales (such as Office), and one is version upgrade revenue, such as from "Home Edition" ” Upgrade to “Professional", upgrade from “Professional" to “Enterprise Edition”. Customers have upgraded from a low-priced "family version" to a higher price "enterprise version"; this business has taken an important place in Microsoft's planning. Let's take a closer look at the three versions of the software to see how Microsoft is making users pay more.

Home Edition

About Windows 10 Home Edition has a basic proposition: install and then forget about it. Once upon a time, thrifty PC users could barely cope after installing the home operating system. Not working now, many traditional management and configuration options have been removed.

For example, users cannot postpone an upgrade. Whether it's a quality upgrade (such as PatchTuesday, Tuesday's patch) or a feature upgrade (such as some major upgrades, including annual upgrades) is completely under Microsoft control. Now the customer's custom selection is even narrower. In the previous upgrade, some functions are equipped with the “Switch” button, which can be freely selected. Now you can only register the update manually.

Microsoft also introduced the so-called Windows 10 "Consumer Experience" (ConsumerExperience), which can increase the opportunity for value-added promotions, information will be automatically displayed in the start menu, for example, Microsoft will recommend APP on the left side On the right side, recommend up to 5 “Tiles” (porcelain stickers), similar to the Twitter service and the game Candy Smash Legend. The Get Office application is included with every Windows 10 system, which entice users to try Office for free, then let the user pay monthly, or pay the annual fee.

Professional Edition

In the past, users only had to upgrade to the Windows Enterprise operating system (such as Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate) to unlock some "Professional" features, such as “ BitLockerDrive Encryption, or connect to the PC via the RemoteDesktop Protocol. This convention still applies to Windows 10 Professional. If you want to add a PC to a Windows domain, you must use the Professional Edition system.

The biggest change is in the "Group Policy Editor", which is unique to the Professional Edition system. In previous Windows operating systems, the Group Policy Editor was basically an enterprise management tool. To the Windows 10 operating system, the configuration "WindowsUpdate for Business" must use this feature. Through "WindowsUpdate for Business", Microsoft continues to provide Windows 10 enterprise users with fixes, security upgrades and new features that give users more control. If you want to delay the system upgrade to the new version of

Windows (up to 4 months can be delayed), you must pay for the Professional Edition upgrade. The most affordable way is to buy a new PC directly from an OEM. Many enterprise PCs (including SurfacePro and SurfaceBook) already include Windows 10 at the purchase price. Some companies offer a custom-made PC (such as Dell), and upgrading to a professional operating system costs only $40. If your new PC has the Windows 10 Home Edition operating system, you will need to pay $199 if you upgrade to the Professional Edition after purchase.

In the eyes of consultants who manage small businesses, Windows 10 Professional is a bit disappointing: unable to turn off the Consumer Experience (ConsumerExperience). In other words, each time you complete a feature upgrade, you must manually remove the recommended app. “The GroupPolicy Editor” provides several options that exist only in the Enterprise OS and are just one of them. Enterprise Edition

In all versions of the Windows operating system, the Enterprise Edition is the most misunderstood. The enterprise version of the system can only be obtained through upgrades, for enterprises, and requires the underlying professional license. In addition, the enterprise version of the operating system requires additional authorization, such as the system can run Windows on four at the same time.

In the past, Windows sold the Enterprise Edition operating system in the form of Volume Licensing, which small businesses could not enjoy. Since the beginning of this month, policies have changed, and small businesses and independent individuals can purchase Windows 10 Enterprise Edition operating systems for $7 a month through paid subscriptions.

The Enterprise Edition operating system has a wealth of management features, such as "WindowsUpdate for Business", users can also skip the annoying consumer experience through “GroupPolicy”. Microsoft's change is mainly because some people are satisfied with the home version of the operating system, and are reluctant to upgrade the professional version. It wants to change the user's habits. In addition, Microsoft also wants to encourage users to upgrade from the professional version to the enterprise version. In short, please prepare for the payment.