Coming to a computer near you

Microsoft and Apple and probably every single other computer company in the world has been chomping at the bit to sell you a computer/device that you pay every month for the privilege of using as intended. You are locked from taking it anywhere else and it will only run software they allow to be run on the device. Apple has done this with the iPhone and iPad. They don't allow anyone to come along and put software on their phones. You have to talk to Apple. Now Microsoft is getting in to the gig with Windows 8. You will have a phone like interface where everything is done for you with Microsoft's blessing. You will be able to buy software though Microsoft's repository built in to the OS. At some point, I picture this becoming mandatory. Because, well, why not?

I have a reoccurring nightmare where some very intelligent hacker has figured out how to brick all Apple products. By "brick" I mean to render unusable or fixable without physically modifying each device. This would be far too expensive to make happen for most devices. People would have to get new devices or have their devices looked at by someone who knows what they are doing to bring it back online.

The Apple Store, that is available now on Apple computers, is a single point of entry to every Apple products. Soon the same thing will happen to Microsoft. Again, optional at first, then mandatory after the bugs get worked out. That is how they get you. Nickle and dime.

There is something else a foot. Microsoft is trying this thing called "Trusted Computing". It is a ploy to make every computer only run Microsoft products. You know how you can't take a phone from one carrier to another without getting the phone unlocked? Well, the same idea is coming to computers. You will have some magic number assigned to your computer. it will have to match what is in Microsoft's database or you will not be allowed to surf the net or get anything done. It will probably brick the box. They say this is to ensure their software is not pirated. It will also be a boom to the RIAA and other organizations that want to track every move you make bemuse every computer will then have a unique code that will track every thing that it is used for.

The idea here is to lock people in to buying services and paying every month. I remember in the early days of the iPhone, someone bought one on a radio show. The second commentator said (paraphrasing) "I just can't afford the $3600 over two years for a phone."

The first person says "It isn't that much."

Second guy "$X every month for 24 months is $3600. That is only if you buy nothing else to go on the phone." The other person with the iPhone quickly did the math in their head and was depressed the rest of the show.

That's OK. The other members of the IT department agree that we need to wait for service pack 1 before we even consider upgrading to the Microsoft 8 OS. That is a pretty good idea for most operating systems regardless of a complete change in the way things are done.