__/ [ Hadron Quark ] on Monday 31 July 2006 10:57 \__
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> __/ [ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ] on Monday 31 July 2006 07:44 \__
>>
>>> Quote:
>>> ---------------
>>> Microsoft on Thursday showed a prototype of a cell phone-based computer
>>> that could one day find a use as a cheap PC for emerging markets....
>>>
>>> Microsoft has come under some fire for not being more aggressive in
>>> helping to create a low-cost PC that is suitable for emerging markets.
>>> Mundie said that even in poorer countries, many people today have both
>>> a telephone and a television, making a computer based on those
>>> components easier to achieve than creating a low-cost PC....
>>>
>>> In addition to its phone-computing research efforts, Microsoft also has
>>> its pay-as-you-go FlexGo program for emerging countries. The program
>>> doesn't actually lower the cost of a PC, but makes it available for a
>>> lower cost upfront: It allows people to put half the cost of a PC down
>>> and then pay off the remainder via a per-hour usage charge, over time.
>>
>> ^^^^^
>>
>> This has been discussed (criticised) in COLA before. The monopolist wishes
>> to have people hire equipment rather than possess, let us say, a personal
>> affordable laptop. This raises many question regarding persistence of use
>> and hidden cost.
>
> Hire equipment? Do you have a link? This is quite interesting because of
> SW piracy etc. The above article is merely to do with HP and delayed
> payments - nothing new there. IBM, DELL etc have been doing it since day
> one.
"Hire" was probably the wrong word to use. I don't know how it snuck in, but
quick and careless (not the negative connotation; just the opposite of
careful, as in proofreading) let it be. What they do is give/sell people
equipment which is supposedly theirs, but in order to run applications on
it, these people must be, much as though they are getting coupons. This
reminds me of the following article that addresses ownership of the hardware
and the ability/permission to run it independently. Without software, after
all, hardware is useless.
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2567
,----[ Snippet ]
| If I purchase hardware, it is my hardware and is no longer owned by
| the manufacturer. If my hardware checks a cryptographic signature on a
| binary file to verify its origins, it should be my signature signed with
| my key since I am the owner of the hardware.
`----
|
|
