Microsoft Launches Windows 10 Enterprise E3 Subscriptions At $84 Per User Annually

At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) held in Toronto this week, the company's Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, Yusuf Mehdi, revealed important details about the enterprise editions of its Windows 10 OS.

Microsoft has split its Windows 10 Enterprise edition into two different versions, with the "E3" version being the lesser of the two. The top-dog will be called "E5", and will include additional security features, including advanced threat protection with Windows Defender (which kind of sounds like a feature we'd all like).

One of the biggest problems smaller companies face is that their software is far too expensive, but Windows 10 Enterprise E3 hopes to solve that problem by costing just $7/mo, or $84/yr, through Microsoft's Cloud Service Provider channel. That $7/mo gives customers enterprise-grade security as well as enterprise-level management capabilities.

Microsoft considers this edition to be perfect for those companies without dedicated IT staff, or simply want to source their IT and licensing needs to outside professionals. With this move, Microsoft is allowing customers to take advantage of numerous Microsoft products all through a single source, which in addition to W10 Enterprise includes Office 365, Dynamics Azure, as well as customer relationship management (CRM).

If there's anything unfortunate about this otherwise great announcement, it's that both the E3 and E5 versions of Windows 10 Enterprise are not going to see an immediate release. Microsoft says that we can expect to see them both "later this year" - not exactly great news for those eager to move away from Windows 7 now.