I’ve been having a discussion with a few people over at Neowin on the topic of Windows users having to pay extra for security features. Someone with a similar opinion to mine summed up things in a nice way:
All Windows has done is make computer users lazy and stupid. People nowdays don’t know where the Magic Smoke inside their computers comes from, that makes their systems work. All they know is how to follow some stupid Help Wizard and go clicky-click with their mouse, and they click all their freedoms away. “Sure, you can scan my system for whatever you like…after all, I don’t OWN this OS, I just rent it from Bill. It’s HIS computer, after all”. Lets never forget. Microsoft didnt’ “sell” their OS, they sold you the right to use it. They can do whatever they want with it, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it. You’ve become so dependant on Windows, Microsoft could damn-near do whatever they want with you. “Oh, you bought Windows ZRX Bicentenial Edition, and you want to get on the internet? Oh, well, get out your credit card, because you have to buy the ‘Internet Option Pack’. Don’t worry, it’s only a flat annual subscription fee of $99. No big deal. We’ll just add it onto your Windows lease application. Anything else you need? Oh…planning on switching hardware? You might wanna pick up the ZRX Driver Support Pack…that’ll be another annual $99…Printer support…hmm…Lemme see. Yeah, we’ve got one license still in stock for the Document Printing Option Pack. This one’s on sale for $49.99…But you’ll need to buy Office ZRX to use it…and that’s another $500 or so. Want that too?”
Just follow right along kiddies…with wallets in hand. Because it aint gonna get better before it gets a lot worse. Good thing Microsoft help drop the costs of personal computers, because they are raking it in as far as software goes. I’m not screaming that everyone should switch to linux or anything remotely like that. I’m just saying…maybe people should start standing up for what they want, instead of blindly following along with all the “Innovation” that Microsoft comes out with.
it makes sense from a business standpoint, you know. why invest more money in developing things that the average user doesn’t even know they need? if there is a demand for it, hell, then we’re gonna sell it. the need for security is one of the reasons that symantec and macafee exist right now. MS is in a horrible position, where if they don’t do things about security, then people get pissed saying they are money grubbers, and if they do do something, such as build in antivirus support, then they get the monopoly crap all over again.
the debate about software services rages on. MS is going to be there in the next 10 years, because anyone who owns stock in the company wants to see better performance. there’s no better performance indicator than constant revenue streams. My company does that. a lot of companies do that. Power, water, cable, internet, magazines. The only reason that software as a service is “wrong” to so many people is because it hasn’t been that way in the past, and the only reason for that was there wasn’t a way to control it prior to the advent of interconnected computers. now with the proliferation of broadband, the communications medium is in place, and it just plain makes sense to do so. As great as the internet was for being happy and free, it couldn’t last forever. too many companies went under during the dot-com era and investors are much tighter with thier funding. would it really be that bad/ different if you paid $10 a month every month instead of $120 once a year for software? It’ll also allow for companies to push updates when necessary to make sure that the customer has the best possible product.
I do think that that quote went a little overboard. I know it’s trying to make a point, but I don’t think you’ll see a separation of the OS into such small modules as printing and drivers. the secutiry package wouldn’t even be an issue if you sat behind a firewall on a home network or something to that nature. Also, the reason for so many security issues is that you have so many inexperienced users who don’t know how to secure thier systems. If MS wants to take advantage of that market for people who want to feel more secure, why not? many many other companies do already.
Chris, I love ya like a brother. I’d hate for you to think that my views are that extreme on the issue. I do believe the extra security packs are a bad idea however. I’ll explain why.
Basically, in my opinion, it hurts two specific groups of consumers:
Group A: the average “joe” consumer who won’t buy the security pack because they either don’t know what it is, don’t know how to use it or don’t want to pay the extra cash. So, we have an uninformed consumer, not protecting himself because he doesn’t know how or doesn’t see the need for it… until he’s taken advantage of either by information theft, virii or other forms of electronic evil. So, basically, he’s vulnerable. All MS is going to do for him is to sell him the security feature he should have had in the first place.
Group B: the “professionals” and advanced users who DO know how to work security features and expect them in their OS. Now these users will have to pay not only for a “professional” version of the OS, but for upgrades to it. Unless of course they come out with a third level OS called “Uber Guru” or something that comes with everything already in it. I’m SURE that will be real affordable.
So, you have two groups of consumers who will either sacrafice money or features when they should have been built in in the first place. I’m not saying MS should make anti-virus programs or anything, maybe just improve their “internet fireware” features. I don’t think anyone will take them back to court for improving something that they’ve already developed.
Also, if you’re interested, you should read the other comments on the article… I made some interesting comments on the state and progression of freeware and the influence it has. Anyway, didn’t mean to offend. Later bro.
not offended at all, but I don’t think that MS is going to start charging for the security updates in thier software that they give for free. if anything, it’ll be for things like personal firewalls and intrusion detection software, much like the stuff my company does now. http://www.my-etrust.com/