Microsoft and MTS start selling computers by subscription

Microsoft and the Russian mobile operator MTS signed an agreement this Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​under which Microsoft will launch in our country a campaign to distribute computers sold by subscription.

As part of the agreement, in June, Microsoft will start delivering Windows Vista-based computers to Russia, including mobile broadband, the cost of which will be about 20% of the normal cost of a computer. Instead of a one-time payment for the cost of a computer, users will enter into an agreement with a company under which they will be able to use a computer based on a subscription. Both companies are also developing a scheme of additional mobile services that will be available to subscribers.
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The campaign is carried out as part of the Subscription Computing Program initiative, under which similar agreements are already operating in Mexico (with TelMex service provider) and in Brazil (Telefonica). Observers believe that Microsoft is trying to compete with free software in this way - the cost of such a subscription to a computer, including Microsoft software (operating system and office software), should be available even to people with lower than average incomes.

via NY Times