Microsoft's Pay-as-you-go Plan Called FlexGo

Posted on May 22, 2006

Microsoft is launching a new service called FlexGo that allows people to own a computer and then pay per hour of use. People would eventually own the PC after they paid for enough usage time. It is sort of like renting a PC except people pay for a chunk of the computer up front.

CNET reports that consumers would pay for about half of the PC upfront. Then they would pay around 50 cents or 75 cents per hour of use. After several hundred hours of usage the consumer wold completely own the PC.

Mike Wickstrand, director of product management in market expansion at Microsoft, tells CNET, "The real goal of FlexGo is to make that dream of owning a full-featured PC a reality."

One downside with the program is that people could end up paying more than they would have if they had just bought a regular new PC in the first place. Digital Inspiration says Microsoft will target the service to people in developing nations like "India, Mexico, Brazil or China." Neowin.net calls it a novel approach. And Good Morning Silicon Valley jokes that with FlexGo BOSD now stands for "Blue Screen of Debt."