Quote:
Originally Posted by marki
if MS go down this path the Macs won't be too far behind.
Mark
|
Wrong - The problem Microsoft is trying to solve is piracy. By forcing pay-per -use the need for licence keys is removed - BUT - you will need to provide an account of some sort where they can bill you.
So piracy will be eliminated, but those of you who have been spongeing "freeware" for years are in for a nasty surprise, unless you piggyback on someone elses account - which suggests trojans and other malware seeking to steal your account details will be rife.
Who is really, seriously going to audit their account to check whether you are being billed correctly for every time you used your system, or each MS app you use ? Do you really think you could spot a fraudulent user piggybacking on your account ? I think not.
And Microsoft has no incentive to provide you with adequate protection against malware in this scheme as the liability is all yours, as is the responsibility to secure your system.
Which adds up to a nightmare for would-be Windows users.
Apple's business model is entirely different - the big money for Apple is in selling you hardware - Macs, iPhones and iPods and Airport Base Stations, Apple TV's. OSX is the bait to persuade you to buy these. In a sense these devices are hardware dongles to run OSX and its apps.
Also as the underdog Apple has a huge incentive to "get it right", alienate their users and they're dead. Get it right - at a time Microsoft does something stupid - and they can grow their user base by 10 times at Microsofts expense.
The unpopularity of Vista has already caused a steady stream of defectors to OSX, who like what they find.
Apple is the last company standing that makes the whole widget - the hardware and the software. I should also point out the subscription/lease/rent/pay-per-use model is not new - the mainframe manufacturers used it 20 years ago - Prime, DEC and Tandem. They are all dead, and IBM is now a minor player. Apple knows this lesson well, they were number 2 in the computer industry in 1980.