“MS is testing NT and BackOffice as rental possibilities
with ‘commercial service providers.’
Whether software rental is a fad or the future, Microsoft Corp.
doesn’t want to be left behind.”
“Last week, one of Microsoft’s hosting partners — FutureLink
Distribution Corp. — announced it plans to offer Microsoft’s
BackOffice products on a subscription, or rental, basis. …While
Microsoft has been dabbling with various ASP pricing models for
almost a year and has talked up the notion of subscription pricing
even longer, the company isn’t expected to announce its foray into
the ASP space for another couple of weeks.”
“FutureLink’s plans for providing BackOffice on a subscription
basis are typical of how ASPs/CSPs are likely to offer for rent
Microsoft’s NT Server, Exchange and SQL Server. …Users will be
charged a monthly Server License Subscription only for the number
of servers used to provide users with connections during a
particular month.”