I love new ideas. They keep things fresh and competitive in the world of technology. What I don’t like is bad ideas, and this new one by Microsoft is either a brilliant or horrible move. In a recently filed patent, Microsoft may be thinking of instituting a pay-as-you-go business model. How will this work? Well, according to the patent, the buyer would purchase a computer with a variety of applications. These include Microsoft Word, Office, and internet browsing. In theory, the user would then select an application and then pay as they use it with an hourly fee. The fee would charge students who do their homework on these applications at a rate of $1.15 per hour. What is this story doing on a videogame blog then?

Well, the pay-as-you-go method would also apply to people who wish to play games on the machine. That hourly rate would bill gamers $1.25 an hour. Reminds me of the good old Netcafe days, and playing Team Fortress for hours with my allowance. Could be a good idea, and would be a nice alternative to buying enormous amounts of software. No word on what games would be included in this business model, but it can be assumed that Minesweeper isn’t going to be one of them. Good idea or bad idea? Commenters go!