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Windows 10 Pro Is a Dead End For the Enterprise, Gartner Says (computerworld.com) 218

Posted by BeauHD from the not-fully-supported dept.
A prominent Gartner analyst argues that Windows 10 Pro is a dead end for enterprises, citing recent changes by Microsoft to the Windows 10 support schedule. "[We] predict that Microsoft will continue positioning Windows [10] Pro as a release that is not appropriate for enterprises by reducing [...] support and limiting access to enterprise management features," Stephen Kleynhans, a research vice president at Gartner and one of the research firm's resident Windows experts, said in a report he co-authored. Computerworld reports: Last year, the Redmond, Wash. developer announced a six-month support extension for Windows 10 1511, the November 2015 feature upgrade, "to help some early enterprise adopters that are still finishing their transition to Windows as a service." In February, Microsoft added versions 1609, 1703 and 1709 -- released in mid-2016, and in April and October of 2017, respectively -- to the extended support list, giving each 24 months of support, not the usual 18. There was a catch: Only Windows 10 Enterprise (and Windows 10 Education, a similar version for public and private school districts and universities) qualified for the extra six months of support. Users running Windows 10 Pro were still required to upgrade to a successor SKU (stock-keeping unit) within 18 months to continue receiving security patches and other bug fixes.

Another component of Microsoft's current Windows 10 support strategy, something the company has labeled "paid supplemental servicing," was also out of bounds for those running Windows 10 Pro. The extra support, which Microsoft will sell at an undisclosed price, is available only to Enterprise and Education customers. Paid supplemental servicing adds 12 months to the 18 months provided free of charge.
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Windows 10 Pro Is a Dead End For the Enterprise, Gartner Says More

Windows 10 Pro Is a Dead End For the Enterprise, Gartner Says

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  • Any version of 10 is a dead end for enterprise (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Indy1 ( 99447 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @05:56PM (#56702302)

    forced OS upgrades, which often breaks the registry, poor control over Windows Updates, Windows update showing App store bullshit back onto the box even after you've removed it, etc.

    Only the LTSB enterprise version is usable, and even that gets annoying.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by orev ( 71566 )
      LTSB is only suitable for ATMs, kiosks, etc...

      • What makes you say that?

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        From what I read here [howtogeek.com] LTSB is a huge improvement over the other versions of Win10.

      • Hi Satya, nice to see you posting on Slashdot. Guess what? Businesses decide what's fit for purpose. MS doesn't get to tell them what works for their use case.

      • LTSB is only suitable for ATMs, kiosks, etc...

        Errr LTSB is Windows 10 for enterprises. It's exactly the same windows 10 as Pro except everything under the control of the domain controller. The only things missing (by default) from every other Windows 10 version is Edge and the Windows Store and you can roll those out if you feel the need.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      This will finally be the year of the Linux desktop!!1!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Given that Windows 7, which is now 8 years old, works perfectly fine and Windows 10 offers nothing that is substantially better, 24 months of support is absurdly short. And requiring non-business users to change their operating system every 6 months is beyond absurd.

      What make all of this so completely ridiculous is that Microsoft gets 99% of its Windows revenue from sales to OEMs who install Windows on the computers they sell. If Microsoft never released anything new, and just kept patching Windows 7 (f

      • 1. Pro was never meant for enterprise.
        2. The security features included with 10 are significantly better than what comes with 7.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Uberbah ( 647458 )

          The security features included with 10 are significantly better than what comes with 7

          Not having control over OS updates and reboots isn't very secure. I had one computer where Windows 10 kept trying to install a driver for an integrated graphics chip it didn't actually have - would throw it into a blue screen loop until I could use system restore. Had to find the hardware ID and disable updates for it in group policy.

          • The security features included with 10 are significantly better than what comes with 7

            Not having control over OS updates and reboots isn't very secure. I had one computer where Windows 10 kept trying to install a driver for an integrated graphics chip it didn't actually have - would throw it into a blue screen loop until I could use system restore. Had to find the hardware ID and disable updates for it in group policy.

            And that goes to the parent's statement that security in windows 10 is "significantly better." Ever had a virus compromise your system while it was stuck in a boot loop? Didn't think so.

      • Windows 7 certainly was an improvement over Vista and XP when it came out. However, it's behind or lacks: NFC printing, wireless printing, UEFI, mobile and decent battery life, touch tablet and hybrid support, TPM security, decent built in desktop MDM mobile device management enrollment profile, linux walk and container support, and virtualization solutions.

        It's from late last decade and was a great desktop OS for the hardware as long as it wasn't mobile as the kernel was not optimized on 7. But times move

    • Only the LTSB enterprise version is usable, and even that gets annoying.

      Also, Microsoft basically says that they don't support LTSB for desktop use, which is itself annoying.

  • If all the ads and other junk on the start menu, etc... was not enough evidence of this already. Enterprise Edition is the only way (not LTSB), and you even need to battle them on there too.
    • Oh come on, you don't want them indexing your machine and using that info to share with their partners so they can show you a bunch of irrelevant games and apps you have zero use for? Can't imagine why users wouldn't want that on their enterprise machines...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Personally every install on my domain would have an enterprise sku IF I could buy machines with enterprise preinstalled from dell. Our it department has a budget of 24000 a year and we have 146 computers, 56 printers and 18 servers. Our current replacement schedule is sitting at 10 years. New systems I have been setting up I have been running decrapifier on and it does a good job of clearing all that out. Plus is it doesn’t cost anything https://community.spiceworks.com/scripts/show/3977-windows-10-d

  • Pro vs Enterprise (Score:5, Funny)

    by jonnythan ( 79727 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @06:01PM (#56702328)

    Windows 10 Pro is a dead end for enterprise?

    Luckily there is a version of Windows called Windows 10 Enterprise!

    Crisis averted!

    • Or since the desktop OS hasn't been the "killer app" of Microsoft (Office is, or the server products) and since Office365 runs fine on Chrome under Linux....

    • I was confused when I read the headline - missed the "Pro" bit. Left me wondering if Win 10 in general is a dead end for enterprise... probably not for the foreseeable, I guess, since the alternatives seem less attractive to large enterprises already entrenched in the MS system. But with decreasing emphasis on Windows and Office by Microsoft (saw this a few days ago, can't find link right now), this could change..

    • You can't actually get Windows 10 Enterprise unless you're an enterprise. Windows 10 Pro was supposed to be the slightly less braindead version for small business or power users. Subscription Windows-as-a-Service crap doesn't count, no one buys that without drinking a few gallons of koolaid first.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Trogre ( 513942 )

      Have they fixed it yet so that updates no longer reset the option to not send your keystrokes back to Microsoft?

    • Re:Pro vs Enterprise (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rahvin112 ( 446269 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @08:55PM (#56703058)

      Only problem is that microsoft's long term plan for windows is software as a service with a monthly cost just like office 365. They are going this way hell or high water on both enterprise and retail.

      That is what Windows 10 represents, anyone still using it enabling this and giving microsoft confidence that it's got a winning strategy and the fanboi's won't see it until it arrives. By 2020 you will be putting in a credit card number and paying a monthly fee to use windows. It's just about the only way Microsoft can soak more money from the system and grow non-cloud revenues.

      • I think you're forgetting that most individuals purchase a Windows license that is tied to their hardware, not to them personally. So the next time they buy a new computer, they pay for Windows once again. That's how Microsoft makes money off consumer or small business users.

        Besides, I'm pretty sure Microsoft can't legally force anyone who has purchased a license to use their OS in perpetuity to start renting it any more than a car dealer can do that for a car that's paid off. They'd trigger the largest

        • You think you bought a license? Maybe in the EU, but not in the US! The next spring update or whatever for windows 10 they just need new terms that say it's a term rental and you won't have any recourse other than to reject the update and stop getting security updates.

          Microsoft holds all the cards, that you don't realize that is foolish. The EULA already requires binding arbitration, it already gives MS the right to change the agreement and you already have a term limited license. Have you ever read the EUL

          • You have a lot more faith in the apparently all-encompassing power of EULAs over existing law than I do. No matter what a EULA says, it's not legally binding unless a court AGREES that it's legally binding. And I very much doubt a court would take kindly to changing a EULA of an already purchased license into a rental, just because Microsoft wants to. It's about as silly as arguing that Microsoft could legally sell me into bondage if they happened to slip such language into their EULA.

            I'm sure by 2020 yo

            • You don't get it do you? In the US you never bought a license to windows 10, not ever. Have you ever read the EULA?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jezwel ( 2451108 )
        Enterprises do that already - to the tune of 6, 7, 8 figures annually - for exactly this product.

        It's a heck of a lot easier if Microsoft user accounts are tied into payroll, as your managers are going to be on the ball when it comes to making sure people aren't paid if they no longer work there. Easier to manage licences leads directly to less compliance effort, and "lower" costs as you aren't paying for resources that you're not consuming.

      • They are going this way hell or high water on both enterprise and retail.

        The enterprise has always been subscription based, even back in the Windows XP days. Pay your free and you get access to whatever you want from the MSDN library with X number of licenses.

        This is only new for retail.

  • Customer Service (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Zorro ( 15797 ) on Wednesday May 30, 2018 @06:02PM (#56702338)

    What do they expect if they continue to screw their customers?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      What do they expect if they continue to screw their customers?

      That hasn't stopped orgs from buying more M$ for 30+ years. Why would it start now?

      MS just makes orgs feel better because they know their competitors are also getting screwed at about the same time. Social animals prefer shared pain.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      What do they expect if they continue to screw their customers?

      It has been a successful business model for Oracle, and before that, IBM.

      The tech company has a long history of entrenched players who can no longer innovate screwing over their customers until a new player comes along.

      And Microsoft is definitely an entrenched player who can no longer innovate -- in fact, I'm hard pressed to think of innovations from them they didn't outright buy or copy from someone else. Well, there's the Registry ... but I'm

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        Of course you can replace "tech [industry]" with pretty much any industry...

        This is the challenge with unlimited large business, when they take the lead they get so much in terms of resources, they can pretty much do whatever they want. If a promising project comes to disrupt their position, they can just toss a few billion dollars at it and take it over, to either use it or shut it down at their discretion.

    • What do they expect if they continue to screw their customers?

      Seems to have panned out for them over the last thirty-plus years.

    • What do they expect if they continue to screw their customers?

      I don't know what do they expect? Windows sales that continue to trend OEM computer sales like they always have? Enterprises lining up to continue to buy the enterprise version of Windows like they always have?

      Given how Microsoft's profits from the Windows department keep trending general computer shipment and use I think what Microsoft expect is business as usual.

  • Paid support for Windows 10 (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    That's not true, Windows is still offering paid support for Windows 10. I just got off the phone with one of their friendly tech experts who's number I Binged. He took me to this black technical looking screen and showed me all the viruses I had. He fixed me up for free! All I had to do was input my credit card number in case I needed his services again! Count me as another super satisfied Windows 10 user!!!!

  • I do not use windows at all, home or work. I read the article only once and still do not see the point.

    Where I work (a large company) many people seem fine with W10 and end user support is provided by the company as opposed to Microsoft. I suspect small companies will stick with some form of windows until the hardware is replace, then move to whatever comes on the new hardware. And it seems Apple (which I never used) is shooting themselves in the foot as far as the enterprise is concerned.

    I personally bel

  • windows pro + with out volume license agreements is needed.

    small business are to small for enterprise but they may want to be able to trun off store / other stuff that is only in the enterprise ver.

  • In another article Forrester says it cures cancer, will bring peace to the middle east, and might invent a milk carton that can be opened without squirting half the contents down your shirt.

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