Printed from  Microsoft contemplating pay-per-use PC model?
updated 11:55 am EST, Mon December 29, 2008  Pay-per-use PCs
coming?  Microsoft may be experimenting with the idea of selling
PCs in the same way as cellphones are currently sold, patent
filings suggest. A recently-published patent application
proposes selling "standard model" PCs at a significant discount,
with the rest of the price being subsidized by an unspecified
part of the supply chain. The real cost would be shifted into a
usage contract, determining how long a person would have to use
their machine.  Microsoft admits that a subscription PC would
thus be more expensive than a regular one, but argues that the
tradeoff would be a longer "useful life" made possible by access
to cheaper high-end hardware. A more unusual aspect of the
patent is that costs could be linked to the actual usage of
hardware and software; running database applications or choosing
faster graphics performance, for instance, could raise the price
of a subscription.  Buyer