[jasode]

As the journalist explains, the omission of qualifier words to clarify "last" makes Microsoft's message confusing.

It's the "last" in the sense that it's the "last big-tent event version of Windows that was delineated by multi-year development & release milestones." No more big-tent releases like Windows 95. The new release model may also remove the idea of waiting a year or more for a Service Pack.

Basically, it looks like Windows release cadence will be more like Adobe Creative Cloud model: continuous incremental improvements separated by months

[aikah]

> Basically, it looks like Windows release cadence will be more like Adobe Creative Cloud model: continuous incremental improvements separated by months

And will it end up with a subscription based model too? that's the issue here.

[ddingus]

I suspect the core OS won't. There are always lots of reasons to run a machine that isn't online all the time.

What I do expect is features and applications linked to be dependent and associated with a subscription.

Couple that with improved security to discourage and outright prevent applications from being loaded outside of approved channels, similar to what Apple is doing* with it's security settings now, and it may become easier to just pay monthly than do your own thing.

*Preferences, security, "allow apps downloaded from..."