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-290

Daily or Monthly rentals of OS's for Dell hardware customers.

-290 points posted to Operating Systems, Servers and Storage by jmxz 07/10/07

In the past 6 years, I can count exactly 3 days where I actually wanted to use Windows (TurboTax a few years back before my taxes got more complicated). For users who have very occasional use of an OS, it doesn't make sense to buy it; but would be better if I could rent the software in the same way I can rent playstation software from various video rental stores.

The Idea: Could Dell have a program where I could rent the OS on a daily basis rather than buy it outright?

The reason this is a request for Dell and not a request to Blockbuster is that I'm not enough of a Windows expert to track down all the drivers scattered around the internet and third party software needed to put together a working windows system myself; and presumably Dell has a functioning Windows restore disk for the models they sell that include the drivers.

Perhaps this rental installer could resize my existing partitions non-destructively to make just as much room as it needs; and restore the space to my old partitions when the trial period ended.

davmcn
07/10/07		 Are you saying for all games, and software we use on are computers? Cause if it is a Microsoft game they come with a "Key" and if you activate it like most people do to use hte software and then someone else is "renting" the software it won't work...cause it is already activated..so sorry i have to demote this cause it won't Work
But thank youfor your suggestion
jmxz
07/10/07		 I wasn't so much thinking of games; but the OS itself.

If I only want to use the license 3 days out of 6 years; why not let someone else use it the other 360+ days each year.

Other software is rented out (at blockbuster, etc) - why not OS's?
rotthund
07/10/07		 Rent the computer, or borrow a friend's computer. TurboTax is online, so whatever OS has a browser will do. And you'd only be buying the use to complete taxes, not an installed piece of software you'd only use for three days.
davmcn
07/10/07		 i have an idea why doesn't dell Rent out their laptops for that with the software instead of OS. eh??
jmxz
07/10/07		 davmcn:
I imagine it'd cost more to rent a $1500 piece of equipment than a $300 one.
And the shipping costs would be higher too.
davmcn
07/10/07		 it was an idea not saying they had to do it...
motie35
07/10/07		 The microsoft license forbids it. Read the license.
davmcn
07/10/07		 I Know That....
reg
07/10/07		 $0.01 per second login costs for all Windows VISTA ULTIMATE PROFIT Edition.

So you login with your ID, PASSWORD, and Credit Card Number.
You pay one cent per second of login, that's only 60 cents a minute, a mere $ 36.00 per hour of computer usage.

Charging per second of operating system time will help eliminate wasted time, like playing on-line games.
People will focus on typing things as quickly as they can, finishing their work rapidly, and logging out as fast as possible.

You See, by charging $36 per hour of Windows Vista time, you will actually be saving your customers money!
reg
07/10/07		 Just in case you think the per second charge sounds silly - it is the end goal of All Microsoft EULA.

Subscription Software : Where you'll pay a monthly fee to access your own data.

Stop paying the subscription, and get locked out of all your information.

Can't happen you say? Subscription Music - stop paying - the music stops playing...
davmcn
07/10/07		 Sounds Pretty Cool Good Thinking Reg.
reg
07/10/07		 Wow, that 2 minute boot up sequence alone is worth $1.20 from every person, using every windows computer, every day, during every forced reboot !

Money Money Money!
davmcn
07/10/07		 To Expensive i would just buy the pc....
jmxz
07/10/07		 @davmcn: "To Expensive i would just buy the pc...."

Too bad you can't buy the software. To quote the Microsoft EULA
"The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. "
So as much as you'd like to buy the software, you can't.

@reg: "$ 36.00 per hour of computer usage."

Adding that up for the time I spent with Windows on my home computer over the past 5 years or so this plan would still be cheaper for me than buying one copy of retail Vista Ultimate.
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