[LINK] Microsoft .Net plans

[Chirgwin, Richard]

How about that?

So people don't want to swap ownership for rental, surprise surprise!

For both software and for books, I'm still trying to understand why I would
give up my rights - my right to own the thing I've paid for, the right to
give it as a gift, the right to read it in a year's time even if the
publisher no longer exists - in exchange for rental. 

That's especially so when the right conferred by owning a book incurs almost
no responsibilities. I don't, for eg, have to ensure that my
next-door-neighbour never photocopies pages one to 229 inclusive. I don't
have to fill out an intrusive registration form to get the book - I can just
call in at a Dymocks and pay. And so on.

I think it's time for that debate to hit mainstream: are we right to accept
"right of access" as a substitution for "right of property"?

Richard Chirgwin

> -----Original Message-----
> From: stephen loosley [mailto:stephen@melbpc.org.au]
> Sent: Tuesday, 28 November 2000 12:08
> To: link@www.anu.edu.au
> Subject: [LINK] Microsoft .Net plans
> 
> 
> Hello there,
> 
> It appears Microsoft's .Net vision is a little blurry ..
> 
> Monday November 27 03:16 PM EST
> Hosted Office Apps a Hard Sell for Microsoft 
> By Peter Galli, eWEEK
> 
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20001127/tc/hosted_office_apps
> _a_hard_sell_for_microsoft_1.html
> 
> Microsoft corp. is fighting an uphill battle getting 
> customers to buy into its .Net vision, as well as the way of 
> receiving software that goes along with that strategy.
> 
> The Redmond, Wash., company is encountering significant user 
> resistance to the hosted Office Online initiative, one of the 
> first tangible aspects of .Net.  Microsoft's .Net plan is 
> attempting to migrate software from a desktop-based focus to 
> one that provides software services over the Internet. Office 
> Online, launched a year ago, allows users to access Office 
> 2000 applications as a hosted service. The company has so far 
> given some 20 ASPs (application service providers) the right 
> to host the software.
> 
> But user support has been patchy, Microsoft officials 
> admitted, particularly given the associated cost, the need to 
> be connected to the Web, and that users' sensitive files are 
> stored remotely..
> 
> Lisa Gurry, product manager for Office, promised that the 
> demand for this service will grow as the Internet continues 
> to develop over the next few years. By the time the .Net 
> version of Office, code-named NetDocs (slated for 2003, 
> sources said), becomes available, the market will be far more 
> receptive to hosted desktop software, Gurry said.
> 
> Microsoft is also testing the waters with its new 
> subscription model for Office 10, the next version of the 
> full desktop suite, but there is no guarantee that this will 
> fly with users either.
> 
> Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst at International Data Corp., in 
> Framingham, Mass., said Microsoft had been casting about for 
> some time trying to find a new and sustainable revenue model 
> as it tried to move away from its reliance on software 
> upgrade sales to grow income. "It is now touting the 
> subscription model, but it is uncertain whether corporates, 
> small business and individual users will buy into it in any 
> meaningful way," Kusnetzky said. 
> --
> 
> Cheers all ..
> Stephen Loosley
> www.stephen.ws
>