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HP Rolls Out Device-as-a-Service for PCs, Printers (eweek.com)
HP says it plans to provide companies with personal computers and other devices as part of a service. Corporate customers of HP's new initiative dubbed "device-as-a-service" will be able to pay a fixed monthly fee per employee for devices, eliminating the need to pay the retail cost upfront for hardware. From a report on eWeek:The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company unveiled a DaaS (device-as-a-service) initiative, one that has already been up and running with several of its clients for the last few months. As more and more millennials come into the work force, they expect to see light, fast, small, and up-to-date tools to use, because that's what they're used to, and their tools are like a badge of honor, HPI's Vice-President and General Manager of Support Services Bill Avey said. "Older employees might want bigger screen and keyboards. The point is, work tools need to fit the work force, and as workforces become more diverse, the tools must adjust fit the needs," Avey said. Otherwise, Avey said, employees will find workarounds in so-called shadow IT (using their own laptops, smartphones, tablets and applications) to get the job done -- which is always a nightmare for enterprise security professionals.
Once upon a time, we called this 'leasing'. But, whatever, call it something new and pretend it's a fantastic new thing.
Nothing like going from basically founding Silicon Valley to competing with the likes of Aaron's and Rent-A-Center!
Just shut down, HP, you're embarrassing yourself.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Everything you have is 'rented' or 'leased', save consumables. Your house, your car, your phone, your computer, your furniture, even the clothes on your back are 'rented' or 'leased' to you for a monthly fee. I'm sure there are plenty of corporations out there that would love that world, where they have a guaranteed monthly income that is not dependent on sales, just lock everyone into lease contracts for everything they own. And, naturally, since you don't own any of it, you have zero rights to do what you want with it, and the 'owner' has 100% rights, so you have to put up with whatever their decisions are. Ads in your face 24/7/365? Keystroke logging? Tracking of viewing habits? Tracking of your location and activities? It's all in the lease agreement you had to sign in order to have even a place to live.
Talk about your dystopian futures! All the above of course is mere fiction. It's more like something I'd expect from the world of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash than anything in the real world. But it doesn't mean that some corporate types don't have these thoughts, either..
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
The new word for "rental".