Turns out Microsoft actually is offering Windows 10 subscriptions, but don’t take to the comments section too quickly. The new offering is for Enterprise customers, and comes with Office 365 and a few other features. Businesses can also potentially even rent Surface devices on a subscription basis, Hexus is reporting.
The Secure Productive Enterprise E3 bundle costs $7 per user per month, or $84 annually, and includes Windows 10 Enterprise 10 E3, Office 365 E3, and Enterprise Mobility and Security E3.
Enterprise users, it’s worth noting, did not have access to the free Windows 10 upgrade, so offering it in a subscription alongside Office and a security suite could be compelling for some business.
That’s the pitch Microsoft is making to their Cloud Service Providers network of resellers. A blog post by Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft vice president for Windows and Devices, outlined the changes.
“Partners can now offer their business customers the ‘full IT stack’ from Microsoft, including Windows 10, Office 365, Dynamics Azure and CRM as a per user, per month offering through a single channel, which businesses can scale up or down as their needs change,” Yusuf said.
Why would businesses bother with a per-user subscription, instead of sticking to per-device licenses? Because users are easier to count than machines, according to Mehdi. This is about “helping businesses lower up-front costs, eliminating the need for time-consuming device counting and audits, and making it easier to stay compliant with a subscription-based, per-user licensing model,” Mehdi wrote.
Microsoft also announced the Cloud Service Providers will be able to offer Surface as a service, allowing customers to always have the latest version of the device. Pricing for this program is not yet available.
So yes, there are Windows 10 subscriptions now. But these aren’t coming to the consumer space. Windows 10 has all sorts of built-in monetization schemes for users, from the Windows Store to Sky Drive. Microsoft will monetize users using these and other tools, while allowing Enterprise users to take more control of their systems — and remove these features — for a monthly fee.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.