Not certain, but I think you'll notice...
Eventually,.. Windows wants to force all Windows users to 10...

Once everyone's there,... they will start charging a yearly fee for maintenance and updates...

I'm still using XP... which is no longer supported, and not getting updates...
When it ceases to function... I will go to Linux (which I hate), but I won't be blackmailed into a subscription service.

I think I see the future... and it sucks...

Ed Bott is a MS apologist, but he makes a valid point that MS isn't likely to charge you a large fee directly associated with the basic Win10 OS.  

But they will use Win10 to lock you into their software world and then force you over the years to upgrade this and that, which they WILL charge you for doing.   Office for example, isn't free, not after the first year anyway.   And Office gets jerked around every year or so, with formatting and features that won't read from one version to the one after next, etc. etc. so you have to keep up fairly closely.

I can see MS packaging Office, etc. inside a premium maintenance package that includes some premium features for Win10 and selling it to you as an optional package.   Get you used to paying a little extra for some premium stuff, get the idea fixed into their ecosystem.

Remember, people are not happy with MS right now -- they are being jerked around and they know it.

And I hate to say it, when things get tight later on MS may decide to raise a little extra revenue from business and whack them for even more OS money as part of their premium package deals.   Then they can toss the uptick in on all the rest of us who want more than the basic level of service.

MS is shrinking, PC is shrinking, and MS is plotting a tiptoe pathway through a minefield of pissed off people to try to keep what market share they currently have.



=======================================



HOWEVER, it is clear FOSS is coming into the OS business in a more comprehensive manner.    I see Android being the vehicle, incorporating hunks of Linux as needed.

Google is funny -- if MaruOS or Jide do manage to put together a winning package set, Google won't wreck their business by rolling over top of it.  

Google would offer to buy them out first, and would give them credit for the unique non-FOSS code they incorporated into Android after paying them for it.   Remember, Android itself started out in just this fashion.  

Or, if an arrangement can be made, they will do like they did Republic Wireless -- let them be the low end provider at the level they have already implemented and take over at a higher position, offering a up level service.

Google is always very careful to respect the FOSS players, something MS never seemed able to even try to do.

Art Webb wrote on 02/07/16 at 08:13:48:


Walmart online has some good deals on android tablets... I just upgraded my last years model and ordered an RCA Viking Pro 10" for $84 /w tax and shipping was free (over $50)
It has more ports (large standard USB, micro USB, mini HDMI) which is very useful, it has 32gig onboard memory.... heck just look it up at the walmart online site... if you buy in store it's like $129 before taxes.
I do a lot of stuff with it, only thing I cannot do is play video intensive games.
I am going to do a factory reset on my last years model and send it to my son... he will love that.

You can tether your tablet to your android phone...... and then slap it on your bars and have a HUGE display

http://www.pcworld.com/article/261928/the_ultimate_android_tethering_guide.html

There are several "how to tether" using android software..... read up and have fun!

That 7" sounds like the cats meow to have with you on trips! You could tether it to your smart phone and not worry about your phone getting wet while using the gps function.
Better to waste a $40 phone than a $75 gps (like I did in the Texas spring run) and you can still use wi-fi at rest stops and other places

P.S. I just talked a fellow thru using the micro HDMI port to manually feed his Netflix onto his 40" led TV. Some of this "smart" stuff is really useful, if you don't want to pay tons of cash for cable.
Make sure you have a good data plan though (his was unlimited)

I pay annually for amazon prime... $99 and you get lots of free movies, tv programs and YES BOOKS..... I down load at least 30 books every two weeks now... I'm getting bad about not putting down the tablet to sleep.

Going to have to limit my reading time to get stuff done in the garage, house, ect... LOL

Most authors that do series of books put out the first one for free, charge like 1.99 for the 2nd and it goes up from there, I usually read the first one and hardly ever the second, unless it is like .99

I think the annual price is worth it, we have watched tons of free movies and tv shows, and you only have to have computer access cable to watch them. (or wi-fi, or tether)
Also you can get new releases for around $5 to rent, if you can't wait for it to drop to $3  
Although some movies will not rent out for about 2 months, so you can store them on your hard drive for around $14.

 
http://liliputing.com/2016/03/unuiga-s905-64-bit-arm-based-mini-desktop-remix...



To order or to learn more go here:     http://igg.me/at/unuiga

Remix OS is finding new friends out in the Orient.   This is Charbax, major lives there Dutch type dude who works as an Oriental reporter who is all over YouTube all the time about oriental tech this and that -- he is floating a $25 low cost device that has decent enough specs that uses full windowing Android Remix OS to make a "PC" type device.

More interest is being shown on the step up $45 unit though, with 2 gigs of system memory and 32 gigs of flash memory.   All are using a quad core 2.2 ghz A53 Armlogic chipset -- a low end Cheap powerhouse of a chipset.   The step up unit costs $15 extra bucks and is soooooo worth the tenner everyone will be ordering it.

Some Real Interest now exists in this Remix OS trick .....  it seems to be picking up some steam as the months go by.   The reporter types like Charbax and Brand Linder have spotted them a "change wave" and are following it pretty closely, and both are actually tending to support it now since it works so well in their eyes.

Note: not perfectly yet -- many things inside the PlayStore do not support anything but phone style touch controls -- but it does work well enough to really do some productive stuff for you and to not hassle you while doing it.  

The Android world is developing the trick OPEN SOURCE so the code can move back into general Android releases whenever Google decides it is cooked well enough to become their stock Android "concurrence" mode.

Google always supports their offspring like Jide, so Google will likely put Jide into their PlayStore and provide the OS hooks for it in the OS itself and then donate code to the Jide Project to smooth out any rough edges that they see taking place.    

You see, Jide and Android x86 Projects are free standing FOSS groups that Google will protect and support and contribute to as the whole Project is something Google has promoted all along since they split off 3 of their own people to go front it.

And as MS fully exposes their Win 10 plan, folks like us will be able to opt out of Win 10 World by putting this Remix OS on their existing old PC hardware ---- assuming this grows into a fully functional product that can completely do all that you need it to do.

BTW ..... Your old PC hardware is Grossly Overpowered compared to what Remix OS requires to run like lightning super fast.



https://youtu.be/ECRdAoQJKR0

essentially, I'm waiting to see what my employer does.
my home computer has always served as a backup/work at home solution.

until my work programs have an android/linex application, I'm pretty much stuck.