Microsoft Wants You to Pay Monthly Subscription for Office and Services You Won’t Use

Microsoft is testing a new bundle of fun codenamed “Albany” which rolls Office Home and Student, Windows Live OneCare, Office Live Workspace and some other Live services into a package that you’ll pay a monthly fee for. It’s this kind of thing, turning software into services you have to keep paying for and never actually own, that makes reports of Windows 7’s modularity kinda scary. Here’s what “Albany” will ask you to pony up for every month in real-world terms.

Lifted from Vwag:

•Office-productivity software that can be had for US$119 at Amazon.com, but is likely already installed on a user’s computer.

•A “collaboration” service most home users will have no need for

•Windows Live OneCare, a PC-security and maintenance service which Microsoft already sells as a subscription

•Three Web services Microsoft already offers for free

Wow, what a deal! Please don’t let your mother fall for this. I’ll keep an eye on my mum, you watch yours, and maybe we can stem the tide of perpetually paying for software here and now. [ZDNet via Valleywag]