KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·Cox HSI
 ·AT&T Southwest
edited
| Hmmm.....
This is kind of interesting... sounds like a new twist on direct marketing, you buy it, it automatically downloads and installs, and updates.
Still, I'm always skeptical of not "owning" a physical item. Can you sell it? Re-use it? etc
While I see a market for this kind of distribution, I'm not a fan of the idea of "software rental" or "Monthly usage fees". We'll see how this works out...
[text was edited by author 2003-01-14 12:59:27] |
|
IronChefMoto
Premium
join:2001-02-08
Alpharetta, GA
| I tried Steam...
...a few months ago and found it to be a neat way of installing a free copy of Counter-Strike, at the time anyway. It was buggy, to say the least, but not in terms of distribution. The Steam variant of CS didn't work on many game servers -- glitches of sorts would plague gameplay. It'll be interesting to see if the world's most popular (???) online FPS can migrate to a subscription model.
Until that model comes into full play, however, I'm glad that I can always update my old copy of Half-Life with a standalone mod of Counter-Strike in lieu of the Steam service.
IronChefMorimoto |
|
NeoGeo64
Premium
join:2001-09-22
Leesburg, GA
| I don't know about this.
I prefer owning the physical item.
It would be a good thing, however, because all of your game saves, etc, would be in a centralized location... in case you ever needed to reinstall your OS... etc.
I still think having an actual game disc is better. |
|
Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
clubs:
 ·Site5.com
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
| reply to KrK
Re: Hmmm.....
A lot of software companies are moving to the software rental instead of buying outright. Business customers have been subject to this by IBM and Microsoft. It is only fitting that the consumer market gets hit as well.
I would still want to have a hard copy of the product though. If I can download the CD image and a CD key and burn it myself and save $10, then I prefer that. 
--
My Domain
Nightfall's Hockey and Life Journal |
|
NOVA_Guy
Embarassed to live in a blue state
Premium
join:2002-03-05
Purcellville, VA
| said by Nightfall  :
A lot of software companies are moving to the software rental instead of buying outright. Business customers have been subject to this by IBM and Microsoft. It is only fitting that the consumer market gets hit as well.
I can think of a more appropriate, less PG-rated, way of saying "gets hit" in the above sentence...
Didn't Microsoft announce something like this a while back with their .NET strategy? I seem to recall hearing something about upcoming versions of MS Office being streamed/run off of Microsoft's servers. I don't know if this would also include centralized document storage, but I wouldn't put that past them either.
I can see it now: businesses across America losing access to their programs and control over their documents by the minute. Forget to pay your monthly software "rental" fee? Microsoft can literally shut your business down in an instant. Or better yet-- maybe they'll just "share" that proposal you've been working on with a few of your competitors.... Puts a whole new twist to "trusted" computing, doesn't it?
I'd trust Microsoft with my business and my documents about as much as I'd trust Bill Clinton at a Miss America pageant...
--
Cox cable: the hallmark questionable business practices and lousy cable service! |
|
AthlGrond
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-25
Aurora, CO | reply to Nightfall
I have seen this kind of licensing from Unix software vendors for years. I guess that makes it just one more thing that MS will be borrowing from Unix.  |
|
Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
clubs:
·Site5.com
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
| reply to NOVA_Guy
You can blame IBM for it actually.
IBM has been doing this kind of licensing for its AS400 mainframe software for many years now. If you don't pay, you don't get support or newer versions. Once you do pay, it is cheaper to stay in the plan then leave it and come back in. Symantec was the second to do it. Microsoft just started doing it last year.
There are advantages. You get the latest version of software. It is easy to budget out how much you will spend in a year or two years on software.
I am not saying there aren't disadvantages, but it does benefit the customer.
--
My Domain
Nightfall's Hockey and Life Journal |
|
Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
clubs:
·Site5.com
·AT&T Midwest
·Comcast
| reply to AthlGrond
said by AthlGrond :
I have seen this kind of licensing from Unix software vendors for years. I guess that makes it just one more thing that MS will be borrowing from Unix.
When Unix can run our AS400 Mainframe and SQL databases with the uptime of our AS400 and Windows 2000 servers, let me know.
Oh, and when I want Unix support on all of it, I don't want to be treated like a moron like most of the Unix gurus do.
--
My Domain
Nightfall's Hockey and Life Journal |
|
AthlGrond
Premium,MVM
join:2002-04-25
Aurora, CO
·Comcast
| said by Nightfall :
Oh, and when I want Unix support on all of it, I don't want to be treated like a moron like most of the Unix gurus do.
Wouldn't that kind of take the fun out of it for the support people?
I was just pointing out that this little (annoying) subscription idea did not originate in Redmond. |
|
KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| said by AthlGrond :
I was just pointing out that this little (annoying) subscription idea did not originate in Redmond.
Heh. From history, it seems precious little originates in Redmond, does it.
--
"When the day comes that anyone can bend our country’s laws and lawmakers to serve selfish, competitive ends, that day democratic government dies" -- Preston Tucker, 1948 (Yep, it's dead.) |
|
cableblows
join:2001-06-17
Indianapolis, IN
|  reply to Nightfall
not i, if i buy a cd, which i do for games and software, I own it, not MS or anyone else and i don't care what the lic. agreement says! I did try this, once, and i couldn't get a refund when i found it didn't work as promised! i am still working on it. |
|
