Apparently, good old Microsoft have been having fun at the US Patent Office, again.

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/microsoft-diskinect-freeloading-tv-viewers/

Their latest bright idea for increased monetisation of their ‘consumers’ is a plan to detect the number of people viewing their gaming products, and cut the system off if their are ‘too many’ at one time.    So, where there was once the tyranny of Concurrent User Licenses, there will now be the Orwellian concept of Concurrent Viewer Licenses!      If MS wanted to take a more proactive approach, they could always link this brilliant wheeze to some form of real-time billing system, so you would be automatically be charged for the number of ‘viewers’ at a particular time..

I am sure the Cable TV companies are salivating at the mere thought of this..      And you thought that Kinect was just a brilliant idea for your game control, didn’t you?

Remember the motto – Consume or Die!

© Robert Gadsdon, 2012