Here's something interesting I read at Wired today.
From a comfortable position of knowing absolutely nothing about the economics of the developing world, I can comfortably postulate that there are probably large numbers of people who could get a lot of use out of a computer (which is to say, they'd be able to plug it in to grids electrical and, uh, informatic; which this sort of thing can't take for granted in the regions we're talking about) but can't spare the cash for one.
This, however, raises a question, and perhaps it is more theoretical than practical, but say I create a document on my FlexGo-powered PC, or record a song or a bit of video onto it, and then don't pay up at the end of the month. It would appear that that data becomes inaccessible. Would I be violating my license agreement by bypassing the OS's sleep mode, as it were, to pull out that data? Are the hardware components designed to act in a similar fashion? Imagine if you had a notebook with a coinslot in the spine, and every so often the pages went blank and asked for a new coin, and stayed blank if you didn't provide one.
What troubles me, I suppose, isn't the OS having a built-in Logan's Run mode per se. After all, as strange as it might seem at first glance, we've all pretty much accepted that we're only buying a license when we buy software. It's the way those terms would seem to be extended to the things users create with those tools in this case.
Anyway, the story is light on the details, so hopefully this is something that's been addressed. Still, wasn't Microsoft making noises about switching Windows to a subscription/automatic update model for everyone some time ago?
Microsoft, chipmakers and PC firms aim to increase PC usage in the developing world with a new flexible payment program to lower the initial costs of buying a computer, the companies said on Sunday.
From a comfortable position of knowing absolutely nothing about the economics of the developing world, I can comfortably postulate that there are probably large numbers of people who could get a lot of use out of a computer (which is to say, they'd be able to plug it in to grids electrical and, uh, informatic; which this sort of thing can't take for granted in the regions we're talking about) but can't spare the cash for one.
Using Microsoft's FlexGo software technology, a customer can buy a computer loaded with the Windows operating system then purchase prepaid cards or pay a monthly subscription fee at a cost similar to using a computer at a local internet cafe, Microsoft said. When the usage time ticks down, a customer can go online or to a local retailer to buy more minutes.
This, however, raises a question, and perhaps it is more theoretical than practical, but say I create a document on my FlexGo-powered PC, or record a song or a bit of video onto it, and then don't pay up at the end of the month. It would appear that that data becomes inaccessible. Would I be violating my license agreement by bypassing the OS's sleep mode, as it were, to pull out that data? Are the hardware components designed to act in a similar fashion? Imagine if you had a notebook with a coinslot in the spine, and every so often the pages went blank and asked for a new coin, and stayed blank if you didn't provide one.
What troubles me, I suppose, isn't the OS having a built-in Logan's Run mode per se. After all, as strange as it might seem at first glance, we've all pretty much accepted that we're only buying a license when we buy software. It's the way those terms would seem to be extended to the things users create with those tools in this case.
Anyway, the story is light on the details, so hopefully this is something that's been addressed. Still, wasn't Microsoft making noises about switching Windows to a subscription/automatic update model for everyone some time ago?
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home