14 DAY TRIAL // Everybody knows that Windows 9 is going to be a really critical milestone for Microsoft’s modern operating system, so it’s only natural to expect big changes to be part of this release.
One of the rumors that reached our ears in the last few months was pointing to what many people called Windows as a Service, a new concept that made us believe that Microsoft might actually bring the Office 365 subscription system on its OS platform.
While this could actually make sense at some level, Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley says that this isn’t the case, and Windows 365, the name that so many people believed could be used for this new concept, won’t see daylight anytime soon.
Windows as a Service is actually a new approach regarding OS updates shipped to users, the source adds, pointing out that Microsoft might actually deliver different updates to users. Basically, Microsoft is aiming to create subsets of users which could get new features for the operating system, based on their needs and the activities they perform on their computers.
As we’ve already told you, Windows 9 Preview could test the waters in this regard and might actually bring such a system into play, pushing new features only to certain user categories.
Of course, this could also mean that Microsoft collects data about your activity, but that’s more or less expected to happen given the fact that beta software builds are specifically designed to bring back feedback in order to improve the final product.
Such a system could indeed work if Microsoft plays its cards right, but everything is still in concept stage right now, and the company hasn’t yet made a decision whether this feature could be implemented in its operating system or not.
What’s really interesting is that Windows as a Service could also support Microsoft’s new fast release cadence, as it could help the company tweak products faster and deliver feature updates at the right time to those who need them.
Windows 9 is expected to see daylight in early 2015, so given the fact that the company is expected to introduce this feature in the preview build, we could actually get a taste of Windows as a Service a lot faster. The technical preview of the operating system is likely to be released on September 30, while RTM should be reached in the very first months of 2015, most likely in February.