Microsoft Introduces Pay-as-You-Go Computing

An anonymous reader writes "Geekzone is reporting that Microsoft is introducing a new business model for 'pay-as-you-go computing.' From the article: 'The pay-as-you-go computing model enabled by Microsoft's FlexGo technology allows customers to have a fully featured PC at home by paying only for the time as they use it through the purchase of prepaid activation cards or tokens. Microsoft has been running trials of the program in Brazil for more than a year and will soon be expanding to select markets in India, Russia, China and Mexico.'" This makes me giggle, because it's basically the return of time-sharing; in the past it was for for mainframe systems, but I suppose the same concept behind the mainframe idea would be true in developing countries today with PC systems.

Comments

This is just sub-prime financing

[tomhudson]

It's the same tactic used to lease-to-own cars to people who can't really afford them

FTFA:

1. An individual purchases a PC by making an initial payment equivalent to one-third of the total cost. A third party financial institution pays the retailer the remaining cost of the PC on the buyer's behalf.
2. The buyer agrees to purchase 800 hours of time on their PC at a low hourly rate - they can add time as frequently or as infrequently as they choose and take as long as they need to purchase the hours. The cost of the 800 hours covers the re-payment to the financial institution (including interest).
3. Hours of PC usage can be conveniently purchased over time through a variety of distribution channels, including convenience stores (scratch cards), ATMs, Point of Sale networks and the internet.
4. Once 800 hours of usage time is purchased, no additional payments are required to use the PC.

In other words, if you don't qualify for the loan as per item 1, you don't get to "long-ter lease" the box. So why not just borrow it outright and not be stuck paying per hour? Or take that 1/3 cash down and buy a used PC.

a fully featured PC ....

[eggoeater]

You mean a PC that includes:

An office suite.

A standards compliant browswer

Maybe a simple image editor

And maybe a couple of small utility programs.

Yeah, I guess that would be worth paying for....
I mean, it's not like people are giving it away for free.

Re:Giggle giggle

[realnowhereman]

It sounds like you aren't aware that time on mainframes was often leased in the past? Making the comparison reasonably valid.

So now you know...

[geoff lane]

...why Microsoft is so dismissive of the $100 PC.

Re:Giggle giggle

[BasilBrush]

Hello young un.

When I first started work, I had to log the time that I logged into my terminal and logged out again into a black book. This was so we could double check against the seemingly extortionate amount of money the time sharing bureau charged us for the time spent on the computer that was on the other end of the line from my terminal. This was around 1983, which will have been towards the end of a practice that had been going on since the 1960s.

Oh, and your comment about this latest scheme being about licensing software is wrong too. They're hiring the hardware as well as the software. Just as they were in the old time sharing days.

Re:The Palladium Killer App

[karlandtanya]

Give the man a cigar!

Now, the question becomes whether you can extract 1/3 of the value of the PC in parts.
Question is only valid for the components that don't require TCPA to function at all.

What--TCPA required in individual components? I thought this was just a motherboard thing so we couldnt' run Linux and pirate CDs?
Guess again, Sunshine.

Wanna upgrade your monitor?
Sure. But don't bother trying to find a local source for that Lucky Goldstar monitor you found on that Korean website.
Only [Dell/Gateway/Microsoft/Walmart/Cosco/YouNameIt] monitors (rebranded LG monitors at three times the price, natch) will work, though.

Man, this is freakin' fantastic! Hardware compatability (no--hardware functionality--this keeps getting better!) will be strictly at the whim of the vendor.
Five years from now, "obsolete" won't mean "still does what it did when you bought it, but there's shinier stuff on the shelf this week"

"Obsolete" will mean: Vendor support for this version of hardware has ended:

• Due to privacy/security/safety/regulatory/end-of-lifecycl e (take your pick or add your own)... concerns, the following models and versions of [product] have been removed from the list of supported hardware.
• [Company] holds in the highest regard your rights as a consumer to maintain control and possession of products that you own. However, please note that the following functionality must, by law, be disabled for non-supported hardware:
  1. Connection to any other hardware, including network devices.
  2. Connection to any wireless network to which any other hardware is connected.
  3. Installation or execution of any licensed software.
  4. Playback, Recording, erasure, or transfer of any media.
  5. ...
• This protects the rights of all consumers to access shared resources without risk to security/privacy/.... caused by unregulated or "rogue" devices or persons.
• We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and direct you to our new line of supported products, avaliable at....

DMCA already means you'd be insane to risk hacking your hardware to get it working again.

And recycling laws will mean the hardware has to go back to a licensed recycler
So, don't try to sell it to a guy what knows a guy what can get it workin' again...