[brokencode]

Part of the problem is that many “paying users” haven’t paid for a long time. Windows 11 is a free upgrade, which of course means that Microsoft is finding new and creative ways to extract a profit.

I’d personally rather pay for extremely high quality OS updates, but I know from personal experience that most people don’t care enough to pay. They’d stick with the old OS until they have to buy a new computer, which could be 5+ years.

So for Microsoft, they either have to support large amounts of users on old OS versions or make the upgrades free. Unless Microsoft can start making large profits on the hardware like Apple does, this is really the only business model that makes sense.

[AnIdiotOnTheNet]

If Microsoft would make a good OS again I would pay $500/yr for it. As it is, I will move to Linux before I move to 11.

Apparently shoving ads at people is more profitable than providing an actually good product.

[brokencode]

Yes, it is way more profitable. Just look at the mobile gaming market for an example of ads and scammy in-app purchases taken to the extreme.

People expect mobile games to be “free”, even though console and PC games typically cost $20-$60. Good luck finding consumers to pay even $20 for a mobile game, much less $60.

Similarly, good luck finding consumers to pay $500 an OS upgrade now that they think it should be “free”.