Despite reports to the contrary, it’s starting to sound like Microsoft is very interested in offering a subscription-based version of Windows 10 that would effectively work the same way as Office 365. Indeed, a trademark for the term “Windows 365” has been unearthed and it was filed by Microsoft to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.
The assumption with the “365” at the end of Windows 365 is that the operating system will also do the subscription thing in the same way as Office 365 works. You might remember that Microsoft will be offering Windows 10 as a a free upgrade to those of us already running on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. I thought the initial wording, saying how the upgrade was free for the first year, sounded a little suspicious. I wondered what would happen after the first year. I wondered if a subscription was on the horizon.
Well, that might be only partly true. Just as you can outright purchase a version of Office instead of subscribing to Office 365, Microsoft may be taking the same approach with its operating system. You can get the “full” version of Windows 10 like how you’ve always gotten your Microsoft OS or you can opt for the subscription-based Windows 365. Why would you do the latter? It’s being posited that Windows 365 will have more features that aren’t available in Windows 10 and it’ll be up to the consumer if they want to pay for that.
These extra features might include the ability to get rid of passwords or it could roll in with some other Microsoft services. Maybe you get an annual Skype credit, extra OneDrive storage, an Xbox Live Gold subscription or a discount on Office 365. This pulls you deeper into the Microsoft ecosystem while offering you a better value to boot. Given this, would you prefer to keep the “free” Windows 10 or would you be willing to fork over as much as $100 a year for Windows 365?
Via Yahoo! Tech