Microsoft quietly tests a new 'pay-as-you-go' rental scheme for Office
,----[ Quote ]
| Would you pay $15 a month to use Microsoft Office 2003?
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=228
Ad revenue as a paradigm may not work for them as Live services are failing.
Related:
Microsoft patent hints at pay-as-you-go OS
,----[ Quote ]
| A Microsoft patent application from June 2005, published only today,
| titled "System and method for delivery of a modular operating system"
| may signal a fundamental change for what an operating systems stands
| for and how it is sold.
`----
http://www.istartedsomething.com.nyud.net:8080/20061215/pay-as-you-go-os-patent/
Intel, Microsoft for Pay-As-You-Go PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| The pay-as-you-go model enabled by FlexGo makes PCs more accessible
| by reducing the initial cost and enabling customers to pay for
| computers through subscriptions or as they use them, through the
| purchase of prepaid activation cards or tokens.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060522/20060521005039.html?.v=1
,----[ Quote ]
| Want to write a Word document? Pay a few pennies. Want to download
| some digital photos? Pay a few more.
|
| Under the idea, which Microsoft is introducing this week, people would
| be able to get a PC for their home with a mechanism that charges them
| depending on how much computing they use. Consumers would pay for about
| half of the PC upfront and then, say, 50 cents or 75 cents per hour of
| use. After several hundred hours of paid use, they would then own the
| PC outright.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-6074589.html?part=rss&tag=6074589&subj=news
Microsoft selling hobbled software to poor countries
,----[ Quote ]
| Surprisingly, no-one seems to have told Microsoft that it is not good
| marketing strategy to treat your customers as if they are stupid. Which
| is exactly what the company is doing with the release in Africa of the
| stripped-down operating system it calls Windows XP Starter Edition.
|
| Microsoft South Africa launched Windows XP Starter Edition (XPSE) into
| the African market last week with very little fanfare and market hype.
|
| Which is not surprising considering how the product was received by other
| media on its intial launch in 2004. Known for its straight talking, The
| Register labelled XPSE "crippleware". Analysts Gartner said the product
| had "good intent, poor execution".
`----
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=983
Vista Starter ready for developing nations
,----[ Quote ]
| According to Wickstrand, the Windows XP Starter Edition was
| marketed primarily to consumers in Southeast Asia, Russia and
| India, with particular focus on families with school-age children
| and those who had purchased their first computer.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6153667.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
|
|
