G'DAY ,
I THINK BRENT HAS A GREAT POINT .
AT LEAST AT THE MOMENT , IF WE HAVE 2 OR 3 COMPUTERS IN THE HOUSE
? WE CAN UPGRADE THEM ALL, AND MAKE THEM COMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER.
FOR ONE COST ,
THE OTHER POINT I
WISH TO RAISE IS THAT THIS WILL DRIVE PEOPLE TO AN OPEN
SOURCE LIKE LINUX,
OR MAYBE AN ALTERNITAVE THAT HASENT APPEARED YET.
IT WILL KILL MICROSOFT AND THIER SALES WILL PLUMMET
, JUST LIKE NAPSTER , WHEN THEY HAD THIER COURT TROUBLE.
THIS RENTAL IDEA WILL DRIVE PEOPLE IN DROVES INTO THE ARMS OF
THE LINUX O.S. , AND THEY WILL PAY ONCE , PER HOUSEHOLD , NOT 3
TIMES OR MORE..
I WILL BE WATCHING WITH INTEREST .
FROM MARK.
At 24/07/01, you wrote:
>HI, Judging from about 90 percent of what I've been reading, including
>from such reputable sources as the Wall Street Journal and some computer
>trade publications, this is not just about renting software. If you go to
>pay $99 or whatever they charge, for a copy of Windows XP, you will need
>to buy a complete separate copy for each computer on which you intend to
>run it. The installation will take inventory of everything in your PC and
>everything connected to it. You will be allowed an as yet undetermined
>number of alterations to that PC before most of the functionality will be
>locked out and you will need to log on to a MicroSoft site and/or call a
>number to get reauthorized to use the software and get a new authorization
>code to unlock it. Once they get the entire system in place, you will
>have to pay an as yet undetermined fee at an as yet undetermined time
>interval to get reauthorized to use the software. Note, this is the
>operating system that runs everything in the PC, not just your word
>processor, or your web browsing software.
>
>Part of that inventory will include such things as informing MicroSoft
>which versions of which software you use, whether you have payed for it or
>registered it, and which software you use most often, whether it is from
>MicroSoft or from a competitor. You will, in effect, be turning total
>control of your computer and what is on it to MicroSoft and to whatever
>other company adopts this subscription model of software usage. You will
>see the same thing from AOL/Times-Warner, for internet access, cable
>television, website access, and anything else that huge conglomerate
>controls. As the information content and the means for distributing and
>providing that content come under the control of a very few huge worldwide
>oligolopolistic supercompanies, the subscription model is being seen as a
>guaranteed means of assuring a steay income stream free from the
>up-and-down vagaries of a free competitive marketplace.
>
>You will also see this when you get all excited about such "satellite
>radio" offerings as the soon-coming XM Radio and Sirium Radio, where you
>will pay aproximately $300 for the receiver, and at least to start with,
>$10 a month for a subscription to a basic service. Don't look for any
>thought to have been given to any kind of independent accessibility to
>these radio services and their point-anc-click menus for blind people.
>
>Do you still like the idea of renting software and think it will offer
>cheaper alternatives to the stupid upgrade treadmill some of you have been
>riding for the last few years? Good luck! Come back in three years and
>tell us how wonderful it is to rent your operating system from MicroSoft
>even after buying a $100-plus copy for each and every machine you use it
>on.
>
>
>Brent Reynolds
>Random Access Internet Shell account
>Standard disclaimers apply.
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
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