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Wed, 22 Apr 2009 Microsoft sees pay-as-you-go as way to combat software piracy

Microsoft executive also said recession will not hinder company's hiring efforts in China

Owen Fletcher

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Microsoft could reduce losses from software piracy by expanding pay-as-you-go plans like those it has tested in developing countries, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Charging users as they access services, rather than in one up-front purchase fee, could "take some of the pressure off of the purely licensed model of software," Craig Mundie, Microsoft's research head, said in an interview.

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Microsoft launched trials of pay-as-you-go services in countries including India and China in 2006. Its FlexGo technology monitors user time on equipped PCs and asks for payment when a prepaid balance runs out.

Allowing incremental payment or rentals for software lowers its initial purchase cost, making users with low savings more likely to buy legitimate versions, Mundie said.

Mundie, speaking in Beijing, said intellectual-property laws and enforcement had improved in China.

But pirated Microsoft programs remain widely available at vendor stalls around the country, and Microsoft provoked rage in China last year when an automatic update to Windows XP turned users' screens black if they were running a pirated version of the OS.

Mundie also said the economic downturn will not affect Microsoft's investment in research or hiring for its Beijing lab.

"Microsoft will sacrifice other activities in order to be able to sustain our research and development," Mundie told Chinese university students at a speech following the interview.

More than 10 new graduates will join the lab's staff of over 200 this year, said Hsiao-Wuen Hon, the lab's head, at the event.

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Comments received


dave said on Wed, 22 Apr 2009

Yes, constantly being asked to pay another 5 or 10 dollars in order to keep working won't bother anybody.

Everybody has a credit card handy, just in case you need to pay up to keep using Word, Excel, or even just Vista SP2(otherwise known as Windows 7), so you can complete your work.

Microsoft. What do you want to rent today?

Stuart said on Wed, 22 Apr 2009

One smart way to push people towards open source solutions.

Ynda said on Thu, 23 Apr 2009

Amazingly clever way of forcing people to look for alternatives.

Ynda said on Thu, 23 Apr 2009

I love the MS Server advert in the middle of this article... The supernova image ripped off from MacOS X cover and "introducing MS Server 2008"... er... isn't it 2009! :-)

Ynda said on Thu, 23 Apr 2009

I love the MS Server advert in the middle of this article... The supernova image ripped off from MacOS X cover and "introducing MS Server 2008"... er... isn't it 2009! :-)

Nharknett said on Thu, 23 Apr 2009

Renting software won't make any difference to people who use pirated sofware. If you're the type of person who doesn't want to pay for software then you're not going to start paying just because you can now rent it.

Is there an upper limit to the amount you pay? Say a retail version of Office is £200, would you stop paying rental once you have paid that amount in rental fees or do you just have to keep paying?

dclc@mac said on Thu, 23 Apr 2009

Renting software will also further the demand for true open standards in file formats.

When someone creates a document using rented software, they won't accept having to re-rent that software in the future just to view their own archived work.

iMate said on Thu, 23 Apr 2009

When software companies start charging what normal people can afford, illegal copying will disappear. Same for movies and music. Until then...

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