Microsoft's 'Pay-as-You-Go' PC Plan
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| henke54 Jan 06, 2009 9:36 AM EDT |
Quoting:Monday, December 29, 2008 1:45 PM PSThttp://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/156121/microso... ;-P |
| azerthoth Jan 06, 2009 11:29 AM EDT |
I wonder if you could use the coin driven video game as prior art to that concept. Just a thought ... |
| techiem2 Jan 06, 2009 11:59 AM EDT |
Correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure the "elders" here will :P), but isn't that pretty much how timesharing on mainframes was done? |
| tuxchick Jan 06, 2009 12:23 PM EDT |
Microsoft already makes you pay as you go. and pay, and pay, and pay..... |
| techiem2 Jan 06, 2009 12:40 PM EDT |
Oh WOW...I just read the article
ROFLQuoting: Pricing could be on an hourly rate, perhaps with different "bundles" priced according to the software offered and the hardware necessary to run that software. An "Office" bundle, for example, might include word processing and spreadsheet software that could access two of three processor cores and a medium level of graphics performance for, say, $1 an hour. So based on that, let's say your "low end" usage (web/email/not much else) is $.50/hr. Now let's say your typical family of several uses the machine at that level for 6 hrs a day. Mom or dad is home a bit during the day/afternoon, kids go online before/after school, etc. I think this is probably a fair estimate, but is probably lower than the actual typical usage - I assume most people would be doing some word processing/printing/etc. as well. That's $3/day. In just over 3 months you've spent $300 (plus whatever they charge you for the machine initially and your ISP fees). Which just happens to be about the cost of your typical "low end" consumer comp on sale. Somehow I'm not seeing how essentially paying the normal price for a machine 4x a year is a great deal for the consumer.... |
| tuxchick Jan 06, 2009 1:47 PM EDT |
techiem2, to do a fair price comparison requires more factors: the cost of anti-malware software, which will fail anyway, slowdowns from infections, slowdowns from Windows just being a big steaming pile, the cost of a total replacement every six months because a lot of windows users think it's more cost-effective to take their old PC out to the quarry and axe it to death and then go buy a new one, the cost of the axe, lather, rinse, repeat... I think that hosted services like this, if they are reasonably peppy and not your typical bog-slow Web app experience, will catch on. Look at the millions of people who pay too much for overly-complex, overpriced cell phone services, and cable and satellite TV. Normal people look at that junk and go "eff you, you thieves." But not redmond's target demographic, they're ripe for the plucking. |
| ColonelPanik Jan 06, 2009 1:51 PM EDT |
You can fool some of the people some of the time. And that is good enough! |
| techiem2 Jan 06, 2009 2:38 PM EDT |
Wow..now there's a whole other issue...what happens when your happy pay as you go comp gets infected with something that is happily eating away your cpu and pushing you into the next price tier?
For the system to work properly..it really does have to be locked down very tight. Of course, I think that's part of the idea. A machine built completely on Trusted Computing and DRM to control every aspect of the hardware and software to ensure you only use what you are allowed to and only what resources you are allowed to, and of course pay appropriately. Yeah, it's an MS (or any other control freak's) dream revenue stream. Sell em the comp, sell em the service contract defining levels of performance/application packages available and timed costs for them, sit back and let the $$ flow in. Of course, the whole system breaks down when someone needs to run something that doesn't fit in their scheme and isn't included in the system build (because they CAN'T give the user admin rights to install things as that compromises the security). And you can't expect the user to take the machine to a Authorized Service Center just to have App X or Game Y installed. So for the system to properly work you need all supported apps to be available via a repository (or preinstalled and remotely activateable). In which case if a particular app isn't supported, too bad - go buy a normal machine to run it. Ya know, the more you look at it, the clearer it becomes that a system like this really needs to be built on a *nix base. LOL. So all in all, I guess if designed right and marketted to a very specific demographic that will only ever need what's included (and can be convinced that the cost really is a good deal), it could work.... |
| jdixon Jan 06, 2009 2:50 PM EDT |
> Somehow I'm not seeing how essentially paying the normal price for a machine 4x a year is a great deal for the consumer.... Since when has Microsoft done anything for the benefit of the consumer? |
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