If the release model has changed or is going to change then these are the things that are to change.

Perhaps what MS intends to do is badge what is effectively a service pack as 'point release' OS in its own right....eg you dont go from a marketed win 8 to a 9 but have extra steps [for sales] of Windows 8.3 /whatever....;p

Yet they are charging bugger-all for 8.

If the sales/release model changes then it changes.

Yes, but there is method to their madness.... to get Win 8 on as many machines as possible, thus saving support resources going to past/now defunct OSes, while bringing more users into the new age of computing.  The problem with that, sadly, is that ordinary Americans are doing it a lot tougher than MS realises.  MS, it would seem, isn't aware of just how poor the poorest Americans have become... while US billionaires sit in their ivory towers, more than doubling their combined net wealth in 2012.   It was good in theory, however.

It would be good if Microsoft adopted the Apple model and released incremental upgrades at smaller prices than past OSes.  I can remember an old neighbour of mine saying that he only paid $126, for a full OS and something like $36 for upgrade packs.  I recall thinking at the time: "Oh howe I wish Microsoft did this." after paying out nearly 500 bucks for Vista Ultimate.

BTW, Wiz, check you PM's

Sure, MS is going to take a nosedive in their profits because they are such a bunch of nice guys. From 30.000% profit to the normal 10% just because they've seen the light.

Believe what you want, you'll pay for it anyway.

you don't get it. selling 1000 copies for $10 means more profit than selling 400 copies for $20.

i for example would not even waste one thought buying Windows 8 would it cost several hundred dollars as the previous versions did. at $40 i am tempted.

they probably sold new operating systems mostly to oems and very few to end users in the past. now they want to sell to end users as well, especially as people tend to use their pcs for a longer period of time than in the past.

also: don't you wonder why Apple is doing it that way? they seem to do pretty well.

Yes, and I think that's something Microsoft has done.... taken a leaf out of Apple's book.  I'm also tending to think that Microsoft will adopt Apple's method of upgrade, that less expensive Service Packs will deliver whatever new features they have implemented between major OS editions.  Apple fanbois have been crowing for years about how they pay far less for their OS upgrades, so it may be that MS uses the same or a similar method to deliver its updated features.

But i doubt that these point releases( if there will be any and not just a well-known simple service pack but let’s just say there will be point releases coming up for windows in the near future and no SP,if those point releases will be pay to upgrade i highly doubt that the price will be higher than 5usd or lower simply because most folks will not go for it mainly because windows8 is running fine so they will have to add something new to the OS that has value that will force you to upgrade. I doubt that anyone that paid 50USD for the OS will open their wallet and pay another 50 USD for a 8.1 release. Also you can’t compare game upgrades so called ( add-ons ) with a service pack of an OS you simply can’t, an Add-on always adds playtime and content ,while fixing Bugs is part of the business and if you don’t you will destroy your own economy on the sales market also your reputation, i would agree to pay like 10 USD for a 8.5 jump but not for 8.1. I don’t mind if they will charge for it all im saying is that the price doesn’t justify the bug fix there has to be something that adds value before you can go and charge like from windows 7- windows8 a new interface for your daily use. If so they will have to bring in a new system something like stardock has for example with a 1 year subscription for the OS... 

Perhaps not, but then it would depend on what 8.1 offered over 8.0.  However, I'm thinking along the lines that MS will still offer service packs to address stability and operational issues as usual, but that the 8.1, 8.2 updates would contain new or significantly improved features for a  minimal cost.  For xample, if 8.0 sold at $50.00, the point updates would sell for $10 to $15, perhaps 20 if it contained major new features and significant improvements on 8.0 software.

Anyway, we'll see soon enough, but I'm thinking MS will adopt this or something similar to keep the coffers turning over between 8 and 9, 9 and 10, etc.

Windows 8 sucks ass..... and I say that as both a consumer AND as a Technician, it has made my repair jobs so much more time intensive, since some of the original hot keys no longer work. Win8 has literally because I clocked it, and taken a 15 minute repair job and turned it into a 45-60 min exercise in futility and frustration.

F*&k Windows 8, seriously. The metro UI was cute for about 5 seconds when I first saw it. HA HA HA HA.......now give me my start menu and hot keys back.

-AE

Really?  Win8 sucks because it has made your job as a tech more time consuming?  As an IT person myself I have to strongly disagree.  Anything that helps the consumer save time and effort in the long run is not bad and Windows 8 along with Windows Phone 8 do exactly that. 

Besides, the "command prompt" hasn't gone anywhere and if you're not using that, you're not using the most time-efficient tools techs have at their disposal anyway! 

Ya know, I was pretty much closed minded and set in my ways, prefering to do things the old fashioned way, but Win 8 forced a rethink on that and I'm glad it did.  I'm no techie, but as a consumer I am quite liking Win 8 and believe it is just the beginning of better things to come.  The next 2 or 3 full editions of Windows will bring us ever closer to the kind of tech that has been just science fiction until now, and I reckon it's probably better to get of for the ride now, because 3 or 4 editions farther along will look completely alien and unfamiliar to those who stubbornly refused to let go of Win 7 today.  I sure as hell wouldn't want to be caught in that situation 5 to 10 years from now, particularly as PC's will play even more important roles in our lives as technology evolves more quickly around us, but hey, that's your choice if your grip on Win 7 is unrelenting.

After Windows 8, consumers will have plenty of extra time on their hands - to visit the Apple store!

...only to realise that with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has just become the Apple store 2.0! 

But they won't.... Applecrap don't work on Windows of any flavour, so they'll go to the beach on a cold Winter's night, see an F movie in B&W, read a crappy book with the last page missing, visit a grumpy and flatulent old aunt... anything but visit the Apple store.

hehe, last time I visited an Apple Store [bricks and mortar, that is] was for the air-con.... didn't look at anything but, just went in to get out of the heat. 'Twas 45c that day, n' hotter than a fox in a forest fire.

Looking to the future I predict Windows 8 will be a disaster. Sales in the long run will show this. This will hopefully force MS to make Windows 9 look and work like Windows 7.

Seriously?.....you're not joking?!?.....

...I mean you're really really saying that in......all......seriousness?!?.........

But seriously....no windows 8 is not, and will not....fail.   Care to know why? 

Because with windows 8 Microsoft finally has a fantastic CORE that the other devices a person might have besides a desktop/notebook (tablet, phone, cloud) can seamlessly and painlessly integrate with.  Windows Phone 8 is a huge win for MS and Windows 8 on tablets is no less of a win either.  Sure it may seem that MS "tuned" their latest desktop/notebook OS to fit more easily into cloud/mobile/tablet integration as opposed to the other way around but then......that is a GOOD thing.  Because that is where this connected world is going.  You'll see.  I will be proven correct about this.....I just know it! 

How will you be proven correct? All I hear around here is bad things about Windows 8. As for the Windows 8 phone it has 1 percent of the smartphone market. Not doing to well. And I'm pretty sure Apple still holds the market in tablets. MS is playing catch up and failing horribly.

Believe me, kona, Win 8 will be a winner for MS, for all the reasons the_Monk says.  The fact that MS has brought 3 platforms together under the one umbrella is a good thing, and once all the singing, dancing and shouting is over, people will take stock and realise just how good it is.  Okay, Win 8 has had a slow start, as compared to Win 7, but much of the reason for that is because people inherently don't like change. 

Just take a look at Vista, nobody liked it even before it was released.  Apart from the press and other so-called industry experts assassinating it, everybody knew somebody who knew somebody that tried Vista and thought it was crap, and hey presto, Vista was convicted without a proper hearing, and thus it failed... or did it?  Everybody rushed out to grab Win 7.... which was really Vista with a few refinements.  Yes, suddenly the masses loved the changes Vista brought... because the press and industry experts lauded Win 7.

However, that won't be the case this time, Win 8 will succeed because it brings more to the table and expands greatly upon what Win 7 is and can do.  Moreover, it takes users to places unimagined before. The potential is enormous, and once people recognise this, there will be no stopping it.  It will succeed because soon there'll be no escaping just how good the concept is... that Win 7, as good as it was, simply doesn't provide the user experience that Win 8 does.

It hasn't been on the that market long, what, a couple of months or so?  Well I don't know that the iPhone could boast an enormous market share at that point, either.  It may have had a head start because of all the hype over the iPod, but it certainly didn't command any sort of a market lead in the same short while.  Furthermore, because the W7 phone never really garnered such a following, the W8 phone doesn't have such illustrious coat tails to ride on as the various editions of the iPhone, so one can't expect it to be a flyer just yet  However, the W8 Phone will gain a large slice of the market... maybe not tomorrow or the day after, but it WILL get there.

Dunno what happened, but did an edit that somehow created a double post... fixed now, though.

https://forums.wincustomize.com/435427

are you just trolling or has your account been hacked by a chatbot?

Well between the two, Apple and Android, MS does not stand a chance. No no one has hacked my account.