[Am-info] MS MyServices -- the dark side

[Gene Gaines]

Quoted from
NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS on WINDOWS NETWORKING
02/11/02
Today's focus: The dark side of MyServices, Part 2


Network Fusion newsletter archive is at:
     http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nt/index.html

...
MyServices involves interaction between and among Microsoft,
third-party vendors and end users. Service providers could also 
be part of the mix. If Redmond follows through on what some 
people are asking (opening up Passport services to independent 
identity providers), then you can add security providers to the 
mix as well. 

Microsoft's current plan is to charge third-party application 
vendors, service providers - and, potentially, security 
providers - a license fee for use of the various .Net services 
needed for the MyServices initiative. Additionally, each of 
these parties will pay Microsoft a subscription (sometimes 
called "maintenance fee") to remain eligible to partake of the 
.Net services. All of these fees, of course, will be passed 
through to the end user.

But, as they say on late night TV infomercials, that's not all! 
Microsoft will also charge the end user a one-time setup (or 
license) fee, plus ongoing maintenance (or subscription) fees 
so that the user has the privilege of paying the third-party 
vendors to use their applications.

Once upon a time, telephone calls were paid for by the people 
doing the calling (unless they "reversed the charges" by 
calling collect). When "portable" or "mobile" phones (the 
forerunners of today's cellular and PCS phones) first appeared, 
the billing could be set up so that either the calling party or 
the called party was paying. Of course, with today's phones, 
BOTH the calling party and the called party are paying for the 
call! 

Evidently, Microsoft saw this model and liked it. Use .Net 
MyServices and you (the user) pay Microsoft directly. But the 
service to which you authenticate also pays Microsoft (and 
passes the charge on to you). And the vendor who provides the 
applications you use also pays Microsoft (and passes the charge 
on to you). Then there's the company that wrote and distributed 
the application or service you're using - they also pay 
Microsoft and pass the costs on to you. 

Each of these charges might be only a few cents per 
transaction. But a penny here, a nickel there and a quarter to 
the security provider add up fast, especially when you're 
paying these fees over again every day.

___


Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
Sterling, Virginia