Microsoft ‘pay as you go’
p2p news / p2pnet: Microsoft has released a new platform it says will allow users to pre-pay for their computer use.
FlexGo will be aimed at emerging markets and Microsoft hopes it’ll allow computers to be more “accessible” to people in the world’s poorer nations.
Mike Wickstrand, director of product management in the company’s “market expansion” division, says, “The real goal of FlexGo is to make that dream of owning a full-featured PC a reality,” according to
News.com.
Previous attempts at the lower end of the OS market have failed with MS having only sold 100,00 copies of a stripped down version of Windows XP, dubbed “Starter” and already offer financing arrangements to governments and businesses. But they’ve run into problems. Apparently, people in poorer countries don’t get regular paychecks.
“One of the learnings that we’ve had is that it’s not just that families in emerging markets have modest budgets,” Wickstrand said. “It’s the irregularity and unpredictability of their income.”
So Microsoft is now betting on the pre-paid model that many people cite as having boosted mobile phone usage in low income countries. Users will pay about half the cost of the computer upfront and will then pay per use.
Wickenstrand’s boss, Will Poole, says the money spent on pre-paid cards will go toward paying off the rest of the computer, says the
Morning Herald.
Chip makers Intel, Transmeta and AMD have already
developed or are planning to develop chips with kill switches that will
lock PCs until the users cough up more money they don’t really have.
This is touted to be an important feature in emergency situations when
people need immediate access to vital infrastructure. Trials will be
held in Mexico, China, Russia, Vietnam, Hungary, Slovenia, India and
Brazil.
However Microsoft may have missed the boat on this one. Countries such as Cuba have already
size="5">Also
See:
News.com – Microsoft pitches pay-as-you-go PCs, May 21,
2006
Morning Herald – Enter the pay-as-you-go PC, May 22,
2006
discovered Linux - Cuba: Hi, Linux – ‘Bye, Microsoft, May 18 2006
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May 23rd, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Whats next, cars that run only if the car motgage payments are up to date?
The idea is plainly ridiculous.
May 23rd, 2006 at 5:12 pm
“Whats next, cars that run only if the car motgage payments are up to date?
The idea is plainly ridiculous.”
I agree, but “remote car kill switch” technology is already available (along with GPS/RFID tracking), ostensibly for control of criminal activity. Who has access to the “kill switch” is the issue. Disabling the vehicle for non-payment is a no brainer. I’m sure the insurance companys would like to get their fingers into this pie as well. It could happen…
May 26th, 2006 at 5:15 am
Just one more installment in Microsoft’s ultimate goal of forcing people to renew Internet Use and Web access on a yearly (or more frequent) basis. They want never to allow you to extricate their fingers from your pockets.
But let the Internet remain free forever! In a world without walls and fences, there will no need for windows or gates.