Microsoft Indonesia president: Windows 9 will be free to Windows 8 owners

[steve2470]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2688652/microsoft-indonesia-president-windows-9-will-be-free-to-windows-8-owners.html

We already know quite a bit about Windows 9 (or whatever Microsoft decides to call it). Thanks to the president of Microsoft Indonesia, we might now know another detail about Microsoft’s upcoming OS—its price.

According to Indonesian news site Detik.com (via BGR), Andreas Diantoro, the president of Microsoft Indonesia, confirms that Windows 9 will be a free upgrade for all Windows 8 users.

Why it matters: Users are becoming more accustomed to free operating system updates, given the fact that even major iOS, Android, and OS X updates are gratis. And after the negative reception Windows 8 received, Microsoft has some added incentive to earn back its users’ trust. With that in mind, Windows 9 is just as much a chance to change the tenor of discussion surrounding Windows as it is a new version of the OS.

Taking cues from Windows 8.1, OS X

According to BGR, Windows 9 will be available as a free download, much like Apple’s updates to OS X–and much like Windows 8.1, which was a free update provided to Windows 8 and Windows RT users through the Windows Store.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good for Andreas Diantoro! I wonder if this will be true world-wide.

[Warpy]

2. Probably not in the US.

They'll stick it to us, as usual.

I think a lot of people will pay for the privilege if it's significantly different from 8.0.

[dballance]

4. I dunno.

MS has a lot of incentive to win back the business customers who have eschewed Win 8. They'd be wise to allow a free upgrade from Win 7 or Win 8 to Win 9.

At the very least, they should make it really cheap if they plan to charge. I think the last OSX upgrade I had to pay for was only $25 and it was good for all three of my Macs. I didn't have to pay $25 for each.

[randome]

3. To hell with organized religion!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[PSPS]

5. The latest scuttlebutt is that it will be a subscription like Office 365

There's a Microsoft event in San Francisco this Tuesday where Windows 9's technical preview is expected to be revealed. But from what is known so far, it looks like Windows 9 will undo some (but not all) of the design blunders in Windows 8. Of course, it can't be "all" because that would imply admission by Microsoft that Windows 8 was a complete fiasco capable of being achieved only when your decision makers are billionaires who live in gated compounds throughout Seattle and go everywhere using "drivers" or "captains" or "pilots."

[MohRokTah]

6. A subscription OS is not an option for me.

So that would make Windows 8.1 the last version of Windows in my home.

I've already started moving away from Office as a viable application on my home computers.

[FrodosPet]

7. FREEDOM!!!

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2687117/open-source-software/libreoffice-code-ten-times-better-than-proprietary.html

[MohRokTah]

10. Yep, LibreOffice is one I'm testing. eom

[L0oniX]

19. LibreOffice is excellent ...install LibreOffice Base too if ya need a data base.

[steve2470]

8. yea a subscription Windows would give me very serious pause

Talk about hosing the consumer. I would only go for that IF and only IF I needed the latest and greatest at all times, which I do not.

[MohRokTah]

9. Microsoft sounds like they are abandoning the consumer market.

Subscription based services only make sense for a business based environment addicted to outsourcing everything IT related.

[Locrian]

12. agreed

Absolutely no to the subscription model. Wondering how long Win7 or Win8 would be supported since that's the last MS O/S for me (if the Win 9 is subscription)

[Logical]

14. Adobe is going full subscription on their design suites. No purchased copies anymore. nt

[RedCappedBandit]

11. Well I'm certainly not buying another Windows OS

Windows 8 was utterly terrible.

I'll be switching to linux on my next build.

[Logical]

13. Not a great average end user OS but for the leaning geeky people it is great. nt

[madokie]

16. Ubuntu is an awesome OS

I run AutoCad 2000 using wine and it runs better than it does on any of the windows version newer than 98. 98 was what it was written for. AutoCad 2000 is the best version of acad too, the rest just added fluff that really isn't needed for my kind of work.

I'm presently using ubuntu 14.04.1 Gnome-sessions-flashback which by the way is the old gnome 2 interface. Installed from the software center.

[L0oniX]

18. Just up'd from 12.04 to 14.04 ...been using Ubuntu for over 7 years.

[madokie]

20. Its been pretty close to that long for me too

I wouldn't, couldn't, even entertain the thought of using any other OS. I like it and it does what I want done with a computer
I have family who still use windows and I offer to fix their madness for them but so far none has taken me up on it. When my wife bought a laptop I put ubuntu on it for her. She uses windblows at work and can't believe how much better she likes the Linux OS. No crashes where at work with windows its a pretty regular occurrence. I think they use windows 7 but not 100%sure of that

[L0oniX]

23. Heh ...I run WinXP in VirtualBox to run any old shit I still occasionally need...

like security cam systems that use activeX tools.

[madokie]

24. My apologies

didn't mean to be so crass

[Logical]

15. The Surface 3 is a nice device. We are evaluating them as iPad replacements. But Windows 8 is an....

issue.

[L0oniX]

17. Mean while everyone else has moved on to Ubuntu.

[Rex]

22. Ubuntu is a great OS!

Makes Windows look like an overpriced sports car!

[Rex]

21. 8 is a piece of crap, you have to have 8.1 for it to even work properly.

They should be giving it away for free, after all the problems it caused...because there was no problems with win7!

Just more greed, I bet they don't give it away for free!