Below is a VERY interestint article about Microsoft. Do you think they will
work with smaller cafes? I wonder how this will affect all of us???
Karen
Cybercafe to serve up Microsoft Office suite
By Melanie Austria Farmer
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 30, 2000, 9:40 a.m. PT
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Software giant Microsoft will begin offering consumers for the first time
its Office software on a pay-per-use basis through a deal with
EasyEverything cybercafes.
EasyEverything, which operates Internet cafes throughout Europe, will first
make the Office 2000 software suite available to customers in its New York
cafe, which is slated to open in Times Square Nov. 28.
Customers will be able to access software such as Microsoft Word, Excel and
PowerPoint on a pay-per-use basis for a little less than $2 per session,
EasyEverything said in a statement last week.
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.
The move follows Microsoft's aggressive efforts in the heavily touted
application service provider (ASP) market. The software behemoth already
provides businesses with an option to rent its software through several
application hosting partners including Corio, FutureLink and others. ASPs
charge businesses monthly subscriptions for the service to access the
software from their desktops.
Neil MacDonald, an analyst at Gartner, said the move makes perfect sense.
"If you're looking to grow in this (ASP) market, the next logical step would
be to (target) the consumers."
Like many other technology providers including Oracle, SAP and IBM, Redmond,
Wash.-based Microsoft has made it a top priority to sell its products as a
service to try to nab recurring revenue streams. Because the ASP market is
still in its infancy and companies are struggling to increase their customer
base, MacDonald said the jury is still out on whether consumers will trust
this new model.
"It's not the technology barriers that Microsoft and other vendors will have
to overcome (in the ASP market), it's the barriers of culture and
perception," MacDonald said.
EasyEverything, based in London, said this will be the first time Microsoft
has allowed its Office software to be rented out to consumers.
The cafe's customers get anywhere from 20 minutes to 6 hours of Internet
access for about $2, depending on how full the cafe is at the time. The use
of Microsoft software will carry a fee of about $2, on top of the charge for
Internet access. The cafe will give customers up to 12 hours of access for
Microsoft programs.
In addition to being able to access Office 2000 applications, cafe customers
will also be able to rent Microsoft Works, a software suite for home users,
and Encarta, the company's encyclopedia application. EasyEverything said it
will eventually offer Microsoft software as a service in all of its existing
cafes.
The New York location will contain 800 computers and will be open 24 hours a
day. Hewlett-Packard, an investor in EasyEverything, will supply the
computers and manage the cafe's network connection and backup systems,
EasyEverything said.
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