RE: How to hack into a .... ?

["John Taylor" <jtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John (crar),

> Is There Anything Good about Microsoft's NewSubscription Model?
> http://www.idg.net/ic_638430_1794_9-10000.html

Not that I disagree with what you're saying, but here's an excerpt from that
article:

-----------------------------
Last month, the software giant announced its "Software Assurance" program, a
new licensing arrangement that will provide three years of Office upgrades
for an annual fee that is a mere 29 percent of the full price of Office.

However, to get in on the deal, customers must switch to Office XP, the
latest Office upgrade, by October 1. If they decide instead to hold onto
Office 97, as has been the case for 40 million Office users according to the
Gartner Group, they will no longer eligible for an upgrade discount when
they do decide to switch to the newer product. Instead, they will pay full
price.
-----------------------------

I don't know about you, but it sounds *exactly* like the terms I was
presented with for software subscription on the AS/400.

> We are NOT upgrading theentire enterprise by 10/1, and
> we are NOT paying full price whent the timecomes to move off of
> Off97/2000.
> Other options do exist, even if they will beless attractive than "OFFICE
> 2003".  MSH Windows Networks Mgr


I'm with you on this. I'll be resisting it as long as possible. The first
sign of trouble will be document exchange. We have to be able to efficiently
exchange documents with our customers, and we don't have the luxury of
imposing our will on them.

> "Wake up, open-source community. The battle is not for the
> desk-top; it is not for the server; it is not for the
> operating system; it is not for the development environment;
> it is not about the GNU General Public License (GPL) vs.
> Microsoft's business model. The battle is primarily about who
> will control user-authentication services."

Sounds like a much more eloquent expression of my comment about MS Passport.



John (talyor) ;-)


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