23 ms·

Not worried about them selling me my own data, so much as they want to get rid of the concept of "buy once and own it forever". The Internet megacorps have beco

Not worried about them selling me my own data, so much as they want to get rid of the concept of "buy once and own it forever". The Internet megacorps have become addicted to the idea of lifetime rental. Rent MS Office. Rent this movie. Rent this song. They're getting rid of the concept of software and media ownership for the sake of profit.

jacquesm 12y ago
Rent your own photos. Rent the software you use. It's all part and parcel of the same concept. A subscription model rather than an ownership model. The iPod was a trojan horse.
- arrrg 12y ago
  Seeing as Apple in particular has to be dragged into this new world and everyone (really everyone) was there before them I don’t think there is any truth at all to that characterisation. The iPod was never intended to be a trojan horse. That’s revisionist history at its best.
orf 12y ago
> Rent MS Office You can buy MS office just the same as you can before, but consumers want to rent it. I balk at shelling out hundreds and hundreds for a fully featured copy of Office which will be out of date by the next release. Paying £50 a year or so for an always up to date copy (with a bunch of extras like Skype credit) is a much more attractive alternative. > Rent this movie Yeah, because when has that ever been a thing? > Rent this song And when will this ever be a thing (Renting a song is not the same as renting access to a library of thousands of songs).
- ghaff 12y ago
  Song subscription services do seem to be displacing some percentage of digital purchases. According to the Financial Times yesterday: "The US saw 9 per cent fewer digital albums and 12 per cent fewer digital songs sold over the year, according to Nielsen Music data. In contrast, US audio and video streaming increased more than 50 per cent, with 164bn songs streamed." Personally, I both make purchases and stream and I expect we'll continue to see a combination. And probably subscription plans that include some number of included downloads. (I think I've seen such plans in the past although I'm not aware of any major services offering this today.) Subscriptions work better for software that people use day in and day out. The big issue for me is with things I use now and then and don't really care if I'm up to date or not. Or I need the software to access archived files in a particular format even if I'm not actively creating new ones any longer.
- unreal37 12y ago
  Oh you can now. But at what point will that stop? The concept of owning software is going away. In 5 years, you won't be able to buy Office or Photoshop. Just rent. Same for movies and music. Yes, you've always been able to rent them. But in the future, you won't be able to own them forever.
  - nsgi 12y ago
    > Same for movies and music. Yes, you've always been able to rent them. But in the future, you won't be able to own them forever. What makes you say that?
- neotek 12y ago
  Spotify is essentially a "rent this song" model.
mark_l_watson 12y ago
I am in the process of converting from using DropBox to Microsoft's services. For the $100/year for 1 terrabyte of storage on DropBox, Microsoft provides 1 terrabyte for everyone in my household, plus everyone gets to use Microsoft Office, OneNote, etc. for the same $100/year. I have to say that Microsoft is being very aggressive trying to get new customers by providing good services for a low price. I was accepted into their BizSpark program last year providing free Linux VPS and other web services for three years (while I am working on a new business idea). Also, there $100 per year per household service is really a good deal.

jacquesm 12y ago

Rent your own photos. Rent the software you use. It's all part and parcel of the same concept. A subscription model rather than an ownership model. The iPod was a trojan horse.

arrrg 12y ago
Seeing as Apple in particular has to be dragged into this new world and everyone (really everyone) was there before them I don’t think there is any truth at all to that characterisation. The iPod was never intended to be a trojan horse. That’s revisionist history at its best.

orf 12y ago

> Rent MS Office You can buy MS office just the same as you can before, but consumers want to rent it. I balk at shelling out hundreds and hundreds for a fully featured copy of Office which will be out of date by the next release. Paying £50 a year or so for an always up to date copy (with a bunch of extras like Skype credit) is a much more attractive alternative. > Rent this movie Yeah, because when has that ever been a thing? > Rent this song And when will this ever be a thing (Renting a song is not the same as renting access to a library of thousands of songs).

ghaff 12y ago
Song subscription services do seem to be displacing some percentage of digital purchases. According to the Financial Times yesterday: "The US saw 9 per cent fewer digital albums and 12 per cent fewer digital songs sold over the year, according to Nielsen Music data. In contrast, US audio and video streaming increased more than 50 per cent, with 164bn songs streamed." Personally, I both make purchases and stream and I expect we'll continue to see a combination. And probably subscription plans that include some number of included downloads. (I think I've seen such plans in the past although I'm not aware of any major services offering this today.) Subscriptions work better for software that people use day in and day out. The big issue for me is with things I use now and then and don't really care if I'm up to date or not. Or I need the software to access archived files in a particular format even if I'm not actively creating new ones any longer.
unreal37 12y ago
Oh you can now. But at what point will that stop? The concept of owning software is going away. In 5 years, you won't be able to buy Office or Photoshop. Just rent. Same for movies and music. Yes, you've always been able to rent them. But in the future, you won't be able to own them forever.
- nsgi 12y ago
  > Same for movies and music. Yes, you've always been able to rent them. But in the future, you won't be able to own them forever. What makes you say that?
neotek 12y ago
Spotify is essentially a "rent this song" model.

mark_l_watson 12y ago

I am in the process of converting from using DropBox to Microsoft's services. For the $100/year for 1 terrabyte of storage on DropBox, Microsoft provides 1 terrabyte for everyone in my household, plus everyone gets to use Microsoft Office, OneNote, etc. for the same $100/year. I have to say that Microsoft is being very aggressive trying to get new customers by providing good services for a low price. I was accepted into their BizSpark program last year providing free Linux VPS and other web services for three years (while I am working on a new business idea). Also, there $100 per year per household service is really a good deal.