Be aware of the long-standing intent of the Microsoft powers that be (Bill Gates' vision for the future, stated many years ago, and continuing steadily since then): change the computing paradigm to replace the desktop/laptop/tablet with a simple machine that is mostly human interface (input and output devices), with all software and data storage in the cloud. Subscripted Windows OS is going a long way there, along with subscripted apps and storage space. The intention is as radical as was moving the computing world from mainframes and terminals to desktop computers was. I'm not speaking pro or con, just speaking of intent. Many apps are already subscripted, like Norton Anti-Virus. If your subscription runs out, the app stops working altogether, rather than ceases to be update-able. There are several office suites that exist only via the web, and only as long as you pay your subscription. One of those suites is provided by a company that explicitly states that use of their apps grants them the liberty to use the data you generate with them as they desire (read the Google EULAs, their success is what prompted Microsoft to risk doing it).
There are pros and cons. Pros are apps that are continuously up to date, interface machines that are cheaper, simple, and more easily defined for universality, etc. The cons are user data exposure, and higher prices paid for apps, since you can't buy an OS or app and just use it until the machine dies, you have to keep paying your subscription -- more steady revenue stream for software companies. You also have to have high bandwidth connectivity or you can't function, and if the net, your connectivity, or the cloud craps out, so do you.
Please note that the offensive telemetry that Microsoft collects (but won't tell you what it all consists of) is absolutely necessary to simulate the target environment (interface-cloud computing) before it is fully implemented. They want to make their OS to appear to be continuously up to date, while working with all of the myriad flavors of computers in use. Once the universal interface machine has been designed and specified, there will be much less to be done by them, but the telemetry will then be completely out of your control, or awareness, being done outside of your machine entirely. For Norton Anti-Virus, the software version concept has been well-blurred, in that you no longer have to pay the upgrade price to get the latest version. As long as your subscription is up to date, you just download the update, or it is downloaded and updated automatically, for free. Sound familiar?
At one time, Borland Corporation was positioning itself to push Microsoft off of the top of the hill. They bought, or created, a version of the Linux OS, and all kinds of apps and suites that were in direct competition with Microsoft (hardware and software). I don't know what happened, but they seemed to collapse under the effort, and fell apart. The problem was that their competing products were significantly better than Microsoft counterparts (Red Hat Linux, Dragon Speak, Perfect Office, Paradox, CorelDraw, the "Builder" series of visual software creation suites, etc.). It is all just too bad. Then, again, maybe they would have come right along with the way things are today.
I watched United Technologies' attempt such a grand plan also, trying to position itself to not require any outside vendors, and covering the market with a huge variety of products and services. That plan quietly collapsed under its own load too, and I watched as they divested themselves of a large percentage of what they acquired during the heyday of the plan. They are still trying to recover, while keeping the stock market happy with what it sees.
Since they have successfully shifted the paradigm of the planners, and implementers, I just don't see how Microsoft can stop, in mid-stream, and get back on the older horse. It is do or die now, for them, and many other software and hardware companies that have hitched their horses to the new paradigm. Unless Microsoft can spin the telemetry invasion to a satisfactory degree, and find their "good OS" groove, it might be the "die" option. My gut is telling me that the outcry against the telemetry and unstoppable automatic updating was not unexpected. I would be willing to bet that there is an Easter Egg in Windows 10 that completely turns off the telemetry gathering and reporting, as well as puts the OS updating back into the control of the computer admin. If there is no such Easter Egg, I'm afraid they have shot themselves in the foot. They have tried to force the completion of the paradigm shift, before its time. It was already heading there, inexorably, albeit a bit too slow to meet their economic needs.
Enjoy,
Rich P
