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Microsoft software expires...

Rupert Goodwins AnchorDesk

Published: 18 Jul 2001 20:53 BST

Then came the microcomputer, and for less than the price of a garden shed you could have your own personal processor. Every cycle was yours. And as the cost of computing came crashing down, rationing it was as silly as metering raindrops. But something strange is happening: the monster is stirring in the crypt.

CPU time is back.

A systems administrator in the US was arrested -- really! -- for running screensaver software on all the PCs on his company network as part of one of the code cracking experiments in distributed processing. He faces a huge fine if convicted, as the company concerned considers he stole 59 cents per hour of processing. No mention of how fast the processors were, but they're unlikely to be much more than 500MHz. Which means that a 1.7GHz Pentium 4, selling for £300, should generate around £1 an hour. Run it for a month, and you're immediately in a healthy profit.

Ah, if only. Everyone involved with the case seems bemused that it's happening -- especially since the company admits that no harm has been done to anyone -- and it seems very unlikely that a precedent will be set. But nonetheless, the idea that we should pay by the hour for things that we previously bought outright is a tempting one if you're doing the selling. Cash flow is king, and a million people paying ten pounds a year is much nicer than a million people paying a hundred pounds and then going away for a decade. Especially if you can put the price up by a quid each year.

But does it have any advantages for us users?

HP and now Compaq are busy working on similar ideas, where you pay not for a computer with so much RAM and so many processors, but for the work it does. You run your software and get your results, and write a cheque accordingly. If it doesn't work, then you don't pay -- and the company selling you the computer time has a problem on its hands. Engineers are scrambled: there's nothing like your cash flow drying up to concentrate the mind.