Another lawsuit

[Paul Komski]

Microsoft Faces Class-Action on Security Breaches (http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=3550431)

Will Bill ever get paranoid with all this legal action. :D

[sleddog]

Paranoid? Why? Just because they're all out to get him? :)

I was on a rather long drive today and the radio konked out, so it was either sing to myself or plan a strategy to save Microsoft :D

I chose the latter. In a nutshell it goes like this:

1. All MS software, including Windows and Office, are distributed free of charge. ISOs are placed on websites for download. Users are encouraged to make and freely distribute CDs.

2. Users may, at their descretion and for a fee, register their product and obtain a "support" license. This license entitles them to support from Microsoft. There are various levels and areas of support (see below) and clients can purchase additional "time blocks" of support.

3. All efforts -- programmatic, legal, or other -- to thwart software piracy are halted. The funds spent in this effort are instead channelled into improving the support infrastructure.

4. Monies spent in marketing, packaging and distribution are reduced dramatically, to approximately one-quarter the current level. The funds saved are also channelled into support.

5. Microsoft's prime focus (and revenue source) become task-oriented support: providing the technical expertise to assist businesses, organizations and individuals in accomplishing what they want to do. Franchised (and certified) Microsoft Support Shops are located in cities and towns everywhere. They provide phone support, walk-in support, and do travelling road shows for corporate gatherings, and public workshops. All for a fee of course. Customers can browse and assemble their custom support packages according to their needs and interests (like picking the packages/channels you want for your cable TV).

If you don't want their support then you don't pay for it. Take the free software and use it. Microsoft still benefits. Why? Because you're not using Linux. As long as you are using Microsoft products you are actively encouraging a worldwide dependence on Microsoft software. And as long as that dependence exists people (especially the corporate world) will want and pay for support.

Seems simple, don't you think?

[Budfred]

Sounds good to me, but forums like this would probably undermine their efforts by offering free support and they would invest their piracy efforts to shutting down alternative support sites. We would have to go underground to tell someone how to use Ctrl-Alt-Delete and M$ would hunt us down and sue us for millions but settle for $2000 as long as we agree not to help anyone ever again....:rolleyes:

[mjc]

We could don out Penguin suits and still be legal.....

Besides.....if MS played their cards right, they would hire us...

[pave_spectre]

Oh boy just what I always wanted! To work for Microsoft!:p

Hell just make one of the stupid things they dont support anymore open source and see what happens with it!

[sleddog]

Originally posted by Budfred
Sounds good to me, but forums like this would probably undermine their efforts by offering free support and they would invest their piracy efforts to shutting down alternative support sites. We would have to go underground to tell someone how to use Ctrl-Alt-Delete and M$ would hunt us down and sue us for millions but settle for $2000 as long as we agree not to help anyone ever again....:rolleyes:

Nope, wouldn't work that way. The 'official' support providers would have access to vast troubleshooting databases (probably running on Linux) and be a part of a greater (computer and human) network of support professionals. Anyone trying to provide support from "outside" the official system would have miniscule resources in comparison. They would be siginificantly less effective and less attractive for businesses seeking support.

But if you did go this route, Microsoft would not hunt you down; quite the opposite in fact. If you're good you'd be invited to join the official support network, perhaps as a franchised shop. Your effectiveness and productivity (in supporting Microsoft products) would thereby increase dramatically, as would your net income -- which you'd be invited to share with Microsoft :)

[jeeza]

And if you refuse ?

[bassman]

MY GOD, that is so painfuly simple it would have to work! Could MS possibly change gears at this point and actualy make something like this happen??


And if you refuse?
Why would you? There is certainly something to be said for helping out of the goodness of your heart, but if you could help like this and pocket a hundred bucks a night, wouldn't that be nice?

[Budfred]

One other potential drawback... Since M$ only gets paid when people need help, they would have even more incentive to make it not work intuitively than they already demonstrate. We would be getting BSOD everytime we turn on the computer so that they have an opportunity to get paid to fix it... for a few hours....:rolleyes:

Somehow I just don't trust M$ to do it in a responsible way. Bill needs to maintain his status as richest man in the world after all...

[pave_spectre]

they would have even more incentive to make it not work intuitively than they already demonstrate.

Do they actually have to do anything to make it not work? Isnt that just a result of the slapdash rush to get the product out there?

[sleddog]

Originally posted by jeeza
And if you refuse ?

If you refuse (to join the official support program) you would not benefit from the support infrastructure & network. You would not have access to support databases, and you would not be able to call on specialists (amongst the support program membership) when you're stumped or outside your field of knowledge.

The level of support which you could offer would be much less attractive to clients, especially corporate ones. You might struggle on, or just fade away :)

[sleddog]

Originally posted by Budfred
One other potential drawback... Since M$ only gets paid when people need help, they would have even more incentive to make it not work intuitively than they already demonstrate. We would be getting BSOD everytime we turn on the computer so that they have an opportunity to get paid to fix it... for a few hours....:rolleyes:

Somehow I just don't trust M$ to do it in a responsible way. Bill needs to maintain his status as richest man in the world after all...

Tad cynical there perhaps, Budfred :)

I have no idea what turns Bill Gates' crank, but I suspect it isn't merely money. There are other things -- power, control, monopolies -- that are equally if not more powerful motivators. I would hazard a guess that one thing Bill Gates really wants is to have every computer in the world running Microsoft software. And that's something that money alone can't buy him :)

By giving away the software he can move a step in that direction. By providing high-quality, widespread support in using that software he moves another step. But if the software doesn't work he moves three steps back.

People will not use software simply because it is free, or because they can get help with it. It must also work. By providing bad software Bill Gates would shoot himself in the foot and undermine the whole scheme.

So look at it this way: by shifting the revenues sources from software sales to software utilization, we create an impetus for Microsoft to create better and better software!

Lastly, you are equating "support" with "help when something goes wrong". That is a small part of the support system. The greater part of the support system deals with learning and implementation. So for example, when Company X says, "We want to do this and this. What software and hardware do we need, how do we implement it, and how can we train our staff to work with it most productively?" Microsoft (or the local Support Shop, backed by the support network) has the answers.

[jeeza]

Originally posted by sleddog

If you refuse (to join the official support program) you would not benefit from the support infrastructure & network. You would not have access to support databases, and you would not be able to call on specialists (amongst the support program membership) when you're stumped or outside your field of knowledge.

The level of support which you could offer would be much less attractive to clients, especially corporate ones. You might struggle on, or just fade away :)

In other words, you would be ostracized.
Join us or you'll have no future ?

[Mark Miller]

I don't think bill needs or cares about the money either, it's all power and making MS the biggest and baddest, which is what his job is to his shareholders. I am a shareholder so go for it Bill.
Mark:D

[sleddog]

I should clarify that this new direction hasn't been endorsed by the people at Microsoft. I check my email regularly, but as of yet they haven't been in touch :D

[sleddog]

Originally posted by jeeza


In other words, you would be ostracized.
Join us or you'll have no future ?

Good question. I'll answer with a question: ostracized by whom? Microsoft? Probably not. You'd be a very small fish swimming solo in a very big pond. You'd probably be seen as unimportant, and ignored.

By the user community? Perhaps, but maybe unconsciously. There would be more attractive alternatives, with whom you could not compete.