Microsoft's New Patent

Last week the U.S. Patents Office issued a new patent to Microsoft, patent 7,269,853, it has to with the method for notifying people when a privacy policy has changed and locking them out of their data unless and until they agree to the change. Is this what the future may hold for individuals or companies who are considering buying into the “software as a service” model that so many companies are moving towards. Microsoft and Google and many other software companies want to stop selling software and instead charge you monthly rent.

I've been telling people that this would eventually happen, you're subscribing to a service essentially paying rent, and the software doesn't belong to you, and if Microsoft's policy is like that of my mobile phone service provider which allows me to sync my phone on their site for a $1.99 a month, but their policy states they're not responsible for the loss data on their site and failure to connect to their site is not their fault or responsibility.

I've never been a fan of software as a service because your giving these companies a lot of control as to how you can access information you've put on their site. It's just another way companies like Microsoft try to control every aspect of technology we as consumers and customers choose to buy and own, with software as a service you don't own anything.

If you fail to pay your monthly service fee you'll be barred from accessing the site to retrieve your information, and exactly how long are they going to retain your information? Will there eventually be a fee for the period of time your information is retained on their site even though you can't access the data, as well as a deposit, and a service fee for having to reactivate your account. I like owning my software, and with Linux being an open source operating system it truly is your software, I do see the argument as to why companies like Microsoft say they need to go this route, and that's because eventually will run out of room as to how small you can go with a microprocessor. My fear is they'll get people trapped into this business model, and when someone comes along with a new type of microprocessor that no one will want to use it because they either won't be able to get out of their agreement with these software as a service companies. Renting software is a lot more beneficial to these companies than they are to the consumers, it's like renting an apartment, at the end of the month when you pay your rent, it still doesn't belong to you.