The Big Grab...

[alexpgp]

"The newest version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser will be able to direct Web page readers to other sites without the permission - or even the knowledge - of the page's owner." (lead sentence from an article on USATODAY.com).

It would appear that Microsoft is going for it all. In addition to a browser scheme that will embed links where the page designer had none, Microsoft has plans as far as operating systems are concerned. And since eventually the only products you can buy from Microsoft are the ones in current release, it would seem that these schemes will become the norm within 5 years or so.

The new XP operating system, for example, seems designed for one thing, and that's to reinstate copy protection on the world, automatically, and with a vengeance. Products such as Office will be able to be run only a limited number of times (or for a limited amount of time) before you'll have to "call home" either over the Internet or by phone, to get an activation code that's matched to your system.

In a recent newsletter, Scot Finnie told of reviewing XP, and he was not happy with it. After encountering problems with his review copy (the Product ID was bad), Finnie writes, "I learned that I would have to uninstall Office XP entirely and then reinstall it in order to use the new Product ID Microsoft sent me. I found myself immediately exasperated that Microsoft hadn't figured out a better way to change a Product ID number. What happened to how easy production activation was supposed to be for us all?"

Also suspect are the prices for various programs and upgrades, which appear to be pretty impressive. If this scheme is going to eliminate piracy, which in turn would curtail the "billions" in losses that companies such as Microsoft claim they incur due to pirates, how come none of those savings are being passed on to "loyal" customers?

The issue is, I guess, whether corporate customers are going to roll over (or perhaps the more apt expression would be "bend over") and quietly accept XP, or whether the new "features" of the system will serve as the straw that will break the back of Microsoft, as users seek less, um, coercive alternatives.

Cheers...

Comments

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

That was the item that was on the tip of my fingers yesterday as I was writing the post.

I think M$ would definitely love to bring everyone over to the software leasing model, and they're going to make a hard charge to do so.

I find it interesting, though, that as technology supposedly advances, we are being offered really old ideas (copy protection, software leasing) dressed in new threads and disguised as "progress."

Progress it may be, but not for us.

Cheers...

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

It amuses me that M$ was the driving force behind breaking the IT model of centralized computing in favor of the distributed model. Now it's trying to put the genie back in the box. A box it wants to control. Good luck ;)