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Microsoft Invents $1.15/Hour Homework Fee For Kids
theodp writes "Microsoft's vision of your computing future is on display in its just-published patent application for the Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience. The plan, as Microsoft explains it, involves charging students $1.15 an hour to do their homework, making an Office bundle available for $1/hour, and billing gamers $1.25 for each hour of fun. In addition to your PC, Microsoft also discloses plans to bring the chargeback scheme to your cellphone and automobile — GPS, satellite radio, backseat video entertainment system. 'Both users and suppliers benefit from this new business model,' concludes Microsoft, while conceding that 'the supplier can develop a revenue stream business that may actually have higher value than the one-time purchase model currently practiced.' But don't worry kids, that's only if you do more than 52 hours of homework a year!"
"Teacher I didn't get my assignment done. It was either buy food or rent MS Word for three hours, and I didn't want to starve."
and billing gamers $1.25 for each hour of fun
As long as they only bill you while you're actually having fun, I'd imagine that this would be a good deal for many of today's games.
They have some moxie, don't they?
I guess this would be successful, but it pretty much guarantees that all of your customers will hate you, even as they pay you. So really, it's a horizontal move for Microsoft.
As long as computing is as desperately cheap as it is, with $300 computers and free office suites, it's hard to see how they could make this work as a business model.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
What's in it for the consumer?
Do you supply a top-of-the-line PC and internet connection for us gamers? It might be worth it then, provided we don't game too much.
Do you supply a flexible, strong, compatible laptop for the school crowd? It might be worth it then, provided you don't provide incentives to universities or schools to dump more homework on the poor students.
What about the in-car entertainment system? Cell phones?
If I'm buying the equipment, I'm not going to pay monthly for something I currently get for free. The consumers, even the dumb ones, will be looking for alternatives. If no better alternatives exist, they'll be created.
In short, I hope Microsoft does launch this nice program, hopefully with the backing of the law, and other absurd things so we can watch the anvil break the camel's back.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
"The plan, as Microsoft explains it, involves charging students $1.15 an hour to do their homework, making an Office bundle available for $1/hour, and billing gamers $1.25 for each hour of fun. In addition to your PC, Microsoft also discloses plans to bring the chargeback scheme to your cellphone and automobile..."
And ads - don't forget ads...lots and lots and lots of ads.
Seriously, when is MS going to get off the same old profit-stump? Is there no one inside that company that can imagine fresh ways to make money besides licensing? Will MS ever come out of the ice age they fostered and find something to sell that the world actually looks forward to paying for?
Despite what MS would wish, software isn't a utility product that spins a meter at the sidewalk. It isn't a consumable that requires a refill after every trip to the coast. It isn't a treat that changes flavor every month according to some designer whim.
Software is part of a process. A process that can be solved by many means and anyone willing to devote the time. It doesn't come out of a strip mine in the Congo...market it according to the market, not to your desire to fill coffers and it will make money - I promise.
and billing gamers $1.25 for each hour of fun
Can we get a refund for a game if we play said without having said fun?
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
If this is going to be the only option, then it's crappy and destined to fail. But if this is going to be an additional option to purchasing Office (which I think is more the case) it may still fail, but is at least a decent idea. Most students use Office only for homework that requires it. If that is the only time you use it, what makes more sense, paying $200 for the full Office suite that you will rarely use (and definitely won't use half the programs) or paying $50 for the 50 hours you actually use it(which is probably being generous in the time students actually use Office)? And factor in that if you have an older computer, Office may run slowly versus this online version which (if done properly) should run smooth as long as you have good internet access.
If this is an additional choice, I think this may be a decent idea (though I don't think it will be a hit).
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
Hmm. On the other hand, I just shelled out several hundred dollars for Adobe Illustrator, a program I need only for a few hours a year (but when I need it, I REALLY need it). If I had the option to pay an hourly rate OR purchase it outright, I'd have chosen the metering. Actually, a lot of apps are the same for me - including all of Microsoft Office. I use alternative word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation packages (or just do it in my text editor / LaTeX), but every now and then I do need to use Word or Excel.
Again, given that there will be alternatives that are not metered, a pay-for-use model for some of these monolithic, massively-priced apps might not be a bad thing.
Oh Goodie. My post has become the "important" one that other people latch onto with non-germaine observations in the hope that they'll get higher placement.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
Computing 101
Assignment #1
Locate, download, and install Open Office.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
How about if your net connection goes down or the business model flops? Same thing as "Plays For Sure"? They close up shop and leave you high and dry? Maybe you need to format your computer and it comes back telling you to take a hike or you need to use it for a couple mins on your laptop but since it doesn't have the TPM chip it won't go? This will only work if everyone who uses it has some sort of "Trusted Computing" software / hardware combo and by agreeing to install that what else are you agreeing to?
Just food for thought.
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
Am I the only one who finds it pretty funny that college students still use MS Office instead of OpenOffice? You'd think they'd enjoy the choice before they get stuck with Office 2007 at their first professional position.
OpenOffice is far from perfect. The UI isn't going to wow anyone. It is slow and clunky. That being said, I would say it is a fair competitor to Office 2003 and Office 2000. Office 2007 is a different beast. Some love the ribbon interface, and some hate it. I'm curious how you feel Office 2003 kicks OpenOffice down the road.
OpenOffice supports more file formats, provides basically all the features of Office 2003, and handles PDF import/export as well.
I really don't believe there is any great disparity between the two products. Both have a few faults and advantages.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I just hope I dont forget to shut down or leave my computer on...overnight. Or over the weekend. This quickly adds up to the cost of just going out to buy the software today. I guess thats what they mean by 'the supplier can develop a revenue stream business that may actually have higher value than the one-time purchase model currently practiced.'
Sorry, but I have to agree with the parent. I have a nice legal copy of Office 2K I picked up at work ages ago and it runs rings around OO.o. Now that doesn't mean I don't hand out OO.o to everyone who brings in a PC and doesn't have an office suite, because for most it is fine. But I tend to be a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" kind of guy and if a machine performs well i tend to keep it for a long time. This 1.1GHz Celeron with 512Mb of RAM running Win2K makes a GREAT netbox, fast for web surfing and downloading without sucking lots of power or heating up the apartment. But trying to use OO.o, even the older versions was frankly painful. With Office 2K it launches almost instantly even with the quickstarter disabled.
So if you are just wanting something free or have a fast box then I would go with OO.o, but if you are running something a little slower(and considering how netboxes and netbooks are taking off this is a problem IMHO) then Office 2K or 2K3 is just a better choice IMHO. On this machine it is less than 4 seconds to start a new doc with Office 2K, whereas it is closer to 20 with OO.o 2.X and closer to 30 with OO.o 3.0. So while I have nothing against OO.o and frankly will take it any day over Office 2K7 and that damned ribbon, for me Office 2K/2K3 just beats the pants off of it for performance.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
MS's current office suites will eventually be too old (file formats stop getting used, stop getting patches, etc). The pay-as-you-go service is prohibitively expensive. But OpenOffice and the rest can only get better, if only because they all use the same file format and therefore users have no reason to stay with a poor product when one of the others surpasses it.
IMO trying to force people into subscriptions and/or pay by the hour is likely to cause many people to like you say screw it and either take the pain of moving to alternatives or stick with old versions (many are doing that anyway) and pirate extra copies if they can't get them legally.
And if too many people say screw it then the network effects advantage that keeps ms office alive will disapear (while ooo is a bloated pig that can be made up for with extra hardware)
Despite this patent I don't think MS is suicidal enough to make subscriptions/pay by the hour the only option.
Though IIRC MS is trying to use the carrot of lower prices and other side benifits to tempt corporations and academic institutions into subscriptions deals that they then become basically stuck with.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Why is there no "Don't Go There (-1)" moderation option?