Microsoft Corp. last week applied for a patent that spells out a “pay as you go” concept under which users would be charged for both the software they run and the computing horsepower they use.
According to the patent application filed last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the “Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience” scheme would meter software use and access to specific computer hardware. Fees would be charged against a prepaid or billed account.
“The current business model for computer hardware and software relies on a user purchasing a computer with hardware and software that is suited to the most demanding applications that the user expects to encounter,” said Microsoft in the application. “Therefore, a user may buy a multi-core processor with a significant amount of memory and advanced video support for gaming applications that are only used on the weekend, while the user’s day-in, day-out activities may involve little more than word processing or web-browsing.”
1 response so far ↓
1 John // Jan 19, 2009 at 2:49 am
Just when you think greed can’t get worse, Microsoft enters the picture as the leader. It already is shameful that they are overpriced for such crap as they distribute, but this just adds to their dislike. If they were just a normal business trying to make a profit they would have many more customers & virtually eliminate piracy. I suppose that being a consumer friendly company is something they will never understand.