Microsoft’s WaaS Changes Are All About Windows 7 (Premium)

Last week’s seismic changes to Windows as a Service have nothing to do with Windows 10 users and are rather all about the nearly 600 million PCs still running Windows 7. Worse, the changes simply do not go far enough.

I know. Give me an inch and I’ll ask for a mile.

But bear with me here: I was always on the right side of the argument over Windows as a Service (WaaS) and the horrible impact it would have on all of Microsoft’s customers. And since mouthing off about the obvious and overwhelming downsides to this scheme, I’ve watched helplessly as Microsoft’s reliability has nosedived, even as it quickened the pace on reboot-triggering Windows 10 updates. This isn’t about complaining for the sake of complaining. It’s about me trying to raise awareness of these issues and, in the process, inspire Microsoft’s customers to expect more and inspire Microsoft to do better.

I hope I inspired a few individuals to expect more. But I don’t believe that my incessant complaining about WaaS did a thing to inspire Microsoft in the slightest.

Instead, Microsoft is suddenly making massive changes to WaaS, for both individuals and businesses, to address the negative perceptions that this scheme has amongst a user base that is critical to its future success: Windows 7 users. That those perceptions are correct---and they are---is almost beside the point. Any mass rejection of the Windows 10 upgrade---either by remaining on an increasingly insecure Windows 7 or, worse, by the adoption of rival platforms---would drive a stake into Microsoft’s plans to modernize the platform.

With just 9 months to go until Windows 7 heads off into the sunset---well, at least for most of us; Microsoft’s largest corporate customers can pay for up to three years of additional support---Microsoft faces a familiar situation in that there is a sizable number of customers still using a Windows version that is about to expire. But this time is a little different, of course: Where Windows XP users at least had a viable option in Windows 7, today’s remaining Windows 7 users represent a nightmare scenario for Microsoft. They’re not just uninterested in Windows 10, in many cases, they are openly hostile to it.

And it’s all because of WaaS.

So, Microsoft is changing WaaS in major ways. And yes, this is a good thing: Among the changes, the software giant will finally let Windows 10 Home users delay quality and feature updates, a feature that they’ve never enjoyed to date. That is very much a victory, for sure.

But it’s not enough.

There are two remaining problems with WaaS, and both are debilitating for Microsoft’s customers. So now that Microsoft has given us that proverbial inch, I must ask---on behalf of users everywhere---for that next mile.

First, and most obviously, the current schedule, in which Windows 10 is upgraded to major new versions of the operating system twice per year via so-called Feature Updates is untenable. An...