Windows 12 to be subscription-based? It's not like that

There have been many voices on the internet predicting that Windows 12 will require a subscription to function. These claims are likely exaggerated. A subscription may indeed appear, but in a completely different nature.

Rumors about the future of Windows are not surprising. Voices appeared online predicting that Windows 12 will require a subscription payment, like many other services available on the network. These reports are based on some mentions originating from Windows 11 23H2 in the Canary version.

As reported by extremetech.com, there appeared some lines of code which referred to a "subscription edition" of the system. This would suggest that Microsoft is planning to change the way Windows is distributed and move to a subscription model, probably already in the system version marked with the number 12.

Windowscentral.com service, however, informs that all these rumors are the result of misunderstanding. According to the authors of the text, reports about the subscription model of Windows actually concern not the basic version of the system, but the Windows 11 IoT Enterprise version, which would be available in such a model.

At the same time, the authors anticipate that in the future, Microsoft may expand the range of services requiring a subscription, along with the development of the Windows 365 concept, which is currently offered to businesses, and in the future may also reach private users.

They express skepticism that the company would decide to require a subscription fee for the operating system, because in the case of free macOS, Chrome OS, Linux, or Android, a paid Windows would be less competitive, even considering its popularity.