What is Digg?79 Comments
- psycobrat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+33from reading it, sounds like MS is trying to patent linux.
it basicly reminded me of how linux is setup. - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30Only when your around....after you leave for work it's totally trash talking you and showing all it's iMac freinds the goat on midgit porn you were watching last night.
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24"Windows (insert name here) Basics! The new pay as you go Operating system! Low Low price of $99.99!
*prices subject to change depending on legal fees and penalties imposed due to anti-trust violation suites from country of purchase. - Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24"Microsoft wouldn't dare ever try to use it in court; it'd get immediately invalidated by anyone with half a brain."
As if that ever stopped anyone... - stephenwq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23Subscriptions, Ongoing payments, Bills and Microtransactions suck.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20"Do you pay taxes? Cause that's like a lifetime subscription/bill. :P"
Exactly, paying taxes sucks, therefore completely validating the OP's point. The problem with this idea is that Microsoft is not going to reimburse you for parts of their OS you're not using, they're going to start removing parts from the OS and start charging for them to be added back. - geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22It actually does sound like Microsoft's trying to patent UNIX, something that was invented before they even existed. In other words, this patent will _never_ get accepted, and even if it did, Microsoft wouldn't dare ever try to use it in court; it'd get immediately invalidated by anyone with half a brain.
- longzheng, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19Its similar to how it is 'set up', but the patent covers more of the process, security, authentication and licensing.
Also, you don't BUY Linux. :P - Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Stop saying kthxbye
- gen2ux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Sounds kinda like Xbox Live....a $60 game may end up being $70, or maybe even $80 when you buy all the extras for it. Or how about Gran Turismo HD, "we'll sell you the game for $x.xx then you buy all the cool cars and tracks you want for....O lets say another $xxx.xx
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8umm... i think i'm going to just use linux... instead of being nickeled and dimed to death.
- jav1231, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8"Today, an operating system has pretty much everything besides the kitchen sink. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if an obscure Linux distribution included that too."
I'm sure one does. KitchenSync is an open source syncing tool for Linux! :) - Causemos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Here's where all the things that Microsoft has been saying are critical to the OS suddenly become an "option" (read IE/etc).
- o2o2o2o2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Soon it will be like.........
Want to change fonts? $.02
Want to run that excel formula to add all the colums $.05
Want to print that page? $.10
Edit: Oh, I forgot, M$ uses points. So just convert all those figures to points. - quik22, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9yes- please google search for "Enron".
- fyre2012, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7To be technical, KitchenSync is a KDE frontend for OpenSync, which is an open source syncing tool for Linux.
Both of which are totally great utilities, and free as in beer AND speech! - SuperSloth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Microsoft has already stated that Vista will be the last desktop OS they develop in monolithic style. Microsoft will switch to the same pricing scheme as Red Hat Enterprise Linux: You pay for a support contract, you get a copy and updates for the duration of the agreement, and then it ends or you renew.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8*also raises hand
- akhristov, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8*raises hand.
- bookishboy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10Anyone who thinks that this will result in a retail Windows that you can purchase for less than $100, raise your hand.
- lpcustom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yup, first thing I thought of when I read the Patent App. It's a discription of a microkernel or a hybrid system. Both of which, have been around a long time. I think I'll go patent a restaurant that allows people to order at a mic and pickup their food at a window.
- acidhash, on 10/12/2007, -14/+18I'm content with my iMac. It still respects me in the morning.
- avianna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4...so will microsoft pay me when their OS stops going and gives me a blue screen?
sort of a i'll pay-as-i-go, and they'll refund-as-it-doesn't-go scheme :-) - acousticiris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I think the summary misses a small point.
The reality is that the starting price of a Microsoft "modular OS" will be the current price of a full featured OS. So it's not as though you're going to save money by "not paying" for Hyperterminal, or Character Map or some other mundane tool.
I can see it now ... integrated with the Zune / Xbox marketplace.
Login Prompt: 100 points
Command Prompt: 800 points
Wallpaper pack: 800 points
Start Button: 800 points
Internet Explorer: Free!
Windows Media Prey-er: Free!
No thanks! I'll stick with http://www.gentoo.org/ if I'm looking for modular. - mckinnej, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Sounds like my cell phone. They charge me for ring tones, backgrounds, games, etc, etc. It's the ultimate business model second only to insurance. With insurance, they don't even have to provide you with a product.
- redhatcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Sounds good, plus your OS won't be crippled. ;P
- kirstan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5fyre2012: glad you've read your slashdot (http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/06/12/13/019241.shtml) today.
- fraggle35, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Is it possible for a company the size of MS to go under?
- netdroid9, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yes, if they stop selling stuff. (Un)Fortunatly, OEMs will continue buying Vista licences no matter the consumer's opinion, so Microsoft isn't likely to go under yet.
- netdroid9, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It'll be a hundred bucks for the kernel and another fifty for the core processes.
- dodgyd55, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3my god what are they doing i only read up to the part about lego, then got destracted buy a shinny object, but if this is the case linux is looking better every day, all thats needed is for more games to support linux
- redhatcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"microKernel model"
"nobody but GNU (Herd) is thinking this way."
Once again, BSD goes unrecognized. - growler1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Let's all grab pitchforks and march on Seattle.
--really. - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Windows: Indentured Serf Edition
- LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I saw a blurb about it somewhere. I think you mean Fiji.
There was actually a time when I would've cared about MS releasing a new OS. 3.11, 95, 98. Now... Meh, whatever. - DigitalDud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2They already have a pay-as-you-go OS, not just the OS but the entire computer. It's for developing countries where people can't afford to plunk down all the money to buy a computer.
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"With insurance, they don't even have to provide you with a product."
Sure they do: when something bad happens, they take the money that you've paid them, and use it to pay you back, or pay to whomever's car you've mamed in the case of car insurance. Of course, insurance is one of those things where you wouldn't need it if everyone was intellegent and stored some money away for just such occasions, but not everyone is so fortunate, and sometimes things can be even more expensive than the money you've actually saved (for example, health insurance paying for a $200,000 heart transplant and a lifetime of antirejection meds). All and all it averages out for them, because some people paying for insurance never need it.
I agree that it sucks the government mandates car insurance, and doesn't provide the service themselves (as we, the people, should invest in our government, and the government should be there to serve us), and then they turn around and DON'T mandate health insurance, and provide a very ***** version of it themselves for those who qualify, but at least it's real.
In Microsoft's case, they're manufacturing a marketplace: they're taking something that used to be free, and they're saying "well, now we're selling it". Need a calculator? Oh, we're sorry, you need to buy Microsoft Windows Calculator, Vista Edition, that'll be $5.99. And the bad news is, they're doing this in light of their competition GIVING THEIR PRODUCT AWAY. It seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? - fyre2012, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5yah, silly things like: word processing, email, web browser, security, a filesystem...
You know, stuff that should be 'optional'.
What a great move on M$'s part to help convert people to a more open platform. - DigitalDud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Here I dug up the link: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/flexgo/
- LiquidPenguin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3God, how I hate Explorer. I created this nice post and the damn thing crashed. Grrrr.... How about Microsoft get their software to stop crashing at the most inopportune times before they worry about patenting this kind of thing?
Anyhow, let me try this ***** again.
What's scary about this is if Microsoft gets rid of the option to buy, or steal (whichever side of the fence you're on), the OS in its entirety. This would be a ***** field day for Dell. The cost of that free DVD-+R/W you're getting is being offset by a 2% increase across all the other components. Now imagine if Dell could fiddle with the Microsoft Modules. A free module here would mean a .05% cost increase in all the other modules. The damn "feature" set would run for pages upon pages.
Leasing cars works out to be an economical choice for _some_ people because all the traditional methods of obtaining the car never went away. If I want to buy a car outright, I can do that. If I want to lease a car, I can do that too. I can also do everything in between as well.
If Microsoft follows a similar business model, then everything will work out OK. As long as people don't have to pay an insane amount of money just to get the "Complete Edition" in order to obtain comparable features and tools from the previous complete OS. For those who are just looking to browse for eMails, then sure, let them save $50 or whatever off the total price.
However, I will not pay for a subscription based OS or components. It doesn't matter if I buy hardware or software, I expect it to be bug free. If there's a bug, I expect them to fix it, for free. Granted, I would give developers leeway if I installed new hardware that wasn't around when the software was developed if a reasonable amount of time passed. Companies are jumping on this nickel and diming scheme like flies to *****.
I'll take a careful wait and see attitude on this. - astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2New MS Patch in the works:
YELCAB112 - "Taxi Meter" this will place a Taxi Meter icon in the systray
for your use of Windows. - zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2SCO use to do this. You would buy the OS then if you wanted to telnet you had to
buy that but if you wanted to be able to use the telnet package you had to buy
sockets. If you wanted. NFS you has to buy that separate.
Buying an os in hunks sucks! - tropican8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3When I can retroactively patent someone else's OS?
- noamsml, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is this the Microsoft IP Ballmer claimed Linux was infringing?
- herrshuster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah i know this story is old...but i personally don't think this is a pay-as-you-go os
being the eternal optimist, i'd think that the title of the patent might also hint at a good thing-customizing your os.
pay 100 bucks for the core, which comes with basic stuff and pay money for the cool stuff you want and/or need. That way home users can have a cheap os that only does what they want and advanced users can buy the extra stuff. None of this home/home basic/business/premium/ultimate stuff - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not necessarily. It could be done in a non-malicious, empowering manner. But I don't expect MS to take that path.
- fyre2012, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@kirstan
lol nice catch!
p.s. This comment is licenced under the GPL v2 and may be modified for your own purposes. - dioscaido, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@SuperSloth. lol... do you have a source for that tidbit?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5"Vista" is NOT an OS - it's just a bad computer game pretending to be an OS. It's just a skin for XP with extra nag boxes (which everyone turns off). It's even LESS stable than their previous offerings, costs more, requires bigger hardware to even "run", and has all the security loopholes we all know and love.
Microsoft are making themselves ever more irrelevant to the world outside the USA. Over 80% of web servers globally DON'T use any Microsoft products. Over 50% of desktop computers (outside the USA) don't "run" Microsoft OSs and as the third world get their computers, the proportion of Windows "users" will rapidly fall.
Game Over, Microsoft! - OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I hate Microsoft, I hope they are hit by a comet and vaporized, but this is a step in the right direction.
The primary reason I hate Vista is all the bloat. I don't want any of the new Vista built-in apps, all I want is DX10 and the low-level performance improvements.
But coming from MS, I doubt it will be as innocent as that. I'm sure they have a much more nefarious scheme in mind. Something to squeeze even more $$$ out of customers for even less benefit.
I guess we'll just have to see... -
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