The Washington Post / PC World has an article about subscription based Microsoft Office offering by the end of 2008. What? No more $199, $299 or $399 to get the latest bundle of Office applications? That could be what we are looking at, but rather than software license fees, the software would be paid for by ad insertions. More evidence that Google Docs are for real and so is the software as a service subscription software model.
Will users tolerate ads in their software? Sure, if the software is free or low cost, and the ads don't get in the way or reflect back poorly on the user. I'd be happy to use an ad supported Office software suite, even a basic one if it was for home or small business. The other advantage of subscription based pricing is you could always get the latest version of the software. On second thought, that's not always a plus, given the negative productivity impact of Office 2007's user interface redesign (a.k.a. the much maligned "ribbon menus".)
All this is a healthy sign that Microsoft is seeing the threat of real competition from Google, open source and on demand software options. It also says that Redmond may be having a true change of heart and there really is some moxie to try and pull off some non-characteristic moves, like subscription software pricing and audacious goals like Live Mesh.
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Mitchell Ashley is principal consultant at Converging Network LLC where he provides product, technology and social media consulting to emerging technology companies. A successful CTO and product innovator, Mitchell has created many successful, award winning products in the networking, security, convergence, Internet and IT industries. In addition to blogging for NetworkWorld, Mitchell regularly blogs at TheConvergingNetwork and co-hosts the widely popular StillSecure After All These Years podcast.
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The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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