April 18, 2008 11:13 AM PDT
Microsoft 'Albany' subscription--this must be a hoax
I find it hard to believe that Microsoft is seriously considering this 'Albany' program as anything more than a PR stunt tied into a little market experimentation.
The 'Albany' offering as outlined by Mary Jo Foley on ZDNet.
Albany consists of 2007 version of Office Home and Student; Office Live Workspace, Microsoft's collaboration-service complement to Office; Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft's consumer security/backup service; and three Windows Live services - Live Mail, Live messenger and Photo Gallery. The bundle will be delivered via a single installer. When Microsoft releases new versions of any of these software or service components, Albany users will get the latest versions pushed to them automatically for as long as they are paying for the Albany subscription.
Seriously, this is pointless junk. The only real value is to Microsoft who get to see usage patterns and understand how on-demand software is consumed. The offering itself is junk and a bit embarrassing when you consider that you can get all that and more online, with no installer, for free.
Dave Rosenberg dishes up "Software, Interrupted" with nearly 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to multiple start-up IPOs to open-source enterprise software companies. He is co-founder of MuleSource and currently serves as the general manager of Hardy Way. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can contact Dave via e-mail at softwareinterrupted@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @daveofdoom. 
