Yet Another Cheap/Free PC Idea

from the business-model-roulette dept

SoftStream is looking to sell extremely cheap PCs, no strings attached. The concept is to sell below cost, but to make up the money by renting software to use. Apparently, users aren't required to rent the software from SoftStream, which makes it tricky. It seems to me like a creative idea, but most end-users just aren't used to the idea of renting software, and may not take to it that quickly. Instead they'll just buy the cheap machine and then buy the Microsoft Office, get AOL and move on. This might be a business model ahead of its time.
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