[BeefWellington]

Microsoft does sell operating systems (and user data from those operating systems). Those operating systems are typically bundled / installed by default on computers.

It's in their best interests to have everyone using the "latest and greatest" for those features that weren't present (at least to the same extent) in prior versions.

[tedunangst]

This is rather contradictory. There's way less friction to selling Windows 11 licenses to existing hardware owners. Requiring a new PC only means fewer people will be running 11.

[baby_souffle]

> This is rather contradictory.

Not necessarily. I'd bet that the fraction of $ microsoft makes from selling windows licenses _retail_ is a rounding error away from zero compared to what they get selling bulk/volume licenses to corporate / OEM.

It's in microsoft's interest to make sure that dell/hp/lenovo ... etc have reasons to keep buying licenses to put on the new computers they're selling.

I suspect that TPM is about making the PC less open than it traditionally has been. For the majority of people on this site, that's going to cause a deathly-allergic reaction. For the majority of the population, there's some security advantages to having windows manage device security from POST.

[p_ing]

> Not necessarily. I'd bet that the fraction of $ microsoft makes from selling windows licenses _retail_ is a rounding error away from zero compared to what they get selling bulk/volume licenses to corporate / OEM.

Corporate customers already have a VLK which will cover Windows 11 [Pro/Enterprise]. The hardware is the only cost for VLK customers -- Windows licensing is already covered under the existing Enterprise Agreement. EAs often have current version and current version - 1 covered, thus a VLK will entitle one to both Windows 10 and 11 as of today.

It would be odd to think that corporate customers haven't been using BitLocker w/ TPM since at least Windows 7, if not Vista. FDE has been a Corporate Security Checkmark(TM) since it became available.

> I suspect that TPM is about making the PC less open than it traditionally has been.

By traditionally, do you mean prior to 2006 as that is when we first saw and started using TPMs?

[jay_kyburz]

I also discovered a few years ago that OEM licenses can't be transferred to another device.

[crtasm]

I'm not sure that a large % of people would pay for a Windows upgrade - most seem to see it as part of the computer they bought.

[BeefWellington]

Not really. The get a cut on both ends, really. If they make you upgrade to keep using up to date Windows because of claimed security issues, they get additional sales they possibly wouldn't have otherwise.

I suspect Microsoft has numbers which suggest people rarely upgrade their OSes anymore; they're more likely to upgrade their hardware. Enthusiasts still will do whatever but these changes aren't targeting or caring about enthusiasts.