this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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So when they said "windows 10 will be the last windows", they were kinda right. Just not the way the imagined...
I don't wanna sound like someone defending Microsoft, but that line was taken out of context. It was originally something like "last one you'll buy" meaning they're giving free upgrades now to future OSes.
...but then again, even under that meaning this is pretty shitty. Most people would rather buy something than have to rent it forever. Especially when the norm is already that they own it. Doubly so when that price is already hidden and baked into the price of the hardware the user is buying. Most folks probably aren't even aware they're "paying" for Windows in some form when they buy a laptop.
(Yes yes nobody owns Windows, they own a license to use it blah blah blah.)
It's sort of funny to me, that original Windows 10 "last OS" thing came from around the time Jetbrains tried to push a subscription model over a purchase model. They ended up going with subscription with a perpetual fall back license which seems to be the best of both. (Once you pay for 12 continuous months, whatever version you had at the start of the 12 months you get a perpetual license for. So if you stop paying the subscription after 15 months, whatever version existed 12 months ago you can use forever.) I can't really see Microsoft doing that though.
Isn't this essentially a Freemium model? Free to play, pay for the upgrades and premium features like Windows Defender?
It's sort of the opposite (prior to Windows 12 supposedly being subscription based). They were claiming you'd pay once and get get all subsequent versions for free. The way they offered upgrades to 10 and 11 for free from previous versions.
Isn't that the trap? "We'll give you all the upgrades for free! Upgrade yourself deeper and deeper into the dark forest, farther from the light where you paid once for apps. Now those apps that works under Windows 10 years ago are no longer compatible and you'll need to pay $1 a month for MS Paint."
If the OS is free, and then the "modular" aspects are how they nickel-and-dime you into paying $100/mo for the things you used to pay $130 for once.
From the story:
And if you already paid for Windows 10, then you don't pay. Easy-peasey. But, with new hardware requirements to run CoPilot, there's going to be very few machines that could run Windows 10 that would also run Windows 12. So that lie will fall apart anyway.
So if you want to make CoPilot less stupid at everything but spying on you, you pay. Want to use your GPU? Subscribe to "Gamer Bundle!" Want access to CMD? Subscribe to "Developer options!" Want to turn off ads? Subscribe to Ad-free tier! Want to change the desktop background? Subscribe to access a custom fucking JPG on your computer! Want to change the theme? Subscribe to a color scheme! Want to use a printer? Subscribe to "Print Plus!"