像自來水一樣的computing power
Posted in Microsoft on Dec 30th, 2008
大四時，第一次聽到教授把電腦的CPU資原比喻為自來水 - 未來人人家裏都安裝像水龍頭的電腦終端機，需要使用時，打開開關，不用時，關掉開關，每個月依照CPU使用率付費。(沒辦法，當年最夯的關鍵字：”on-demand”) 而事實上，CPU或硬碟儲存空間「自來水化」的概念，已在web hosting產業中行之有年。想必雲端朵朵的cloud computing infra service也將採此模式收費。
基於1) 趨勢 2)終結盜版，微軟申請”pay-as-you-go-computing”專利也就不足為奇了：
Microsoft outlines pay-per-use PC vision — U.S. patent application number 20080319910, published on Christmas Day, details Microsoft’s vision of a situation where a “standard model” of PC is given away or heavily subsidized by someone in the supply chain. The end user then pays to use the computer, with charges based on both the length of usage time and the performance levels utilized, along with a “one-time charge.
收費方式同時考慮到質與量的層面，真是滴水不露啊！
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