Microsoft to sell Office, OneCare for $70 a year

Yeah, the office thing...? People are lazy enough...or too "mobile"...they like the idea of their app being where they are regardless of where "there" is. Not a bad idea. But OneCare?

Consumers need to call MS on the BS. I've made it a strong talking point in all my presentations and public speaking events... Pay attention, you will hear this again.

Microsoft is solely responsible for the virus and spyware mess of their operating system. How they have the monads to dare charge for the "fix" is beyond me. More over...why the computing public is gullible or stupid enough to just roll over and pay the money for this is beyond me. They should demand that One Care be rolled into any system MS rolls out.

Keep it up Microsoft. You are quickly becoming the most effective migration tool I have at my disposal.

h

No kiddin. I read that article and shuddered when I read

Quoting: Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software

and the fact that they actually expect people to pay per year for it and for Office?

I guess maybe some people will...but do you really want your Office software using wga like Windows does (I assume they will be doing something like this to make sure you are within your subscription period so you are allowed to use Office)?

It will be quite interesting to see how this goes over with the general populace.

Quoting: Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software

Surely I'm not the only one who ruined yet another keyboard after reading this? I had iced tea come out my nose!

Heh.. Ok, I don't know if this is a good analogy or not but it just came to mind so here goes (and I know you guys will quickly point out how accurate or not it is):

This is like a bank that has unlocked vaults, one security camera pointing to a corner, and one part time security guard sleeping in a back room wanting to charge customers to hire another security guard to look at the vault now and then to make sure it hasn't been robbed again (yet).

the only security that microsoft is worried about is the security of keeping the money rolling in from the masses.

if you don't pay up once a year guess what - you get turned off.

that is their security model - they could care less about viruses and protecting people's privacy against spyware.

oh yeah they also want the security of knowing if you have any of their competitors products on your machine and making sure they don't work through their one care.

I am sure it will have compatibility problems with open source programs because they don't fit the "business model"

The question is, can they even do Office as SAAS ... and will it run as well as Google Docs?

Given some of the recent comments in the thread, here is an observation that went with this item:

Quoting:What happens when these subscriptions end prematurely or it locks buyers' machines because they pirated the software when they purchased the rental contracts? It is all but certain to happen. I guess a few lawyers will cash in and everyone else gets a "discount" on the next fee and the fee after that and the ...

Some people never learn, as Barnum said, a sucker is born every minute.

> Why are they allowed to get away with it?

I think a better question is why is OneCare so undesirable that they felt the need to include Office in the package to get people to buy it?

jdixon --

Maybe theat is the real answer: They are not allowed to get away with it.

People aren't buying, so they sneak it into Office as a service.