FlexGo: Pay As You Go Computing

FlexGo, is basically a timer that monitors how long a consumer uses a computer. Users can pay by the hour to use a computer in their own homes.

Using Microsoft’s FlexGo software technology, a customer can buy a computer loaded with the Windows operating system then purchase prepaid cards or pay a monthly subscription fee at a cost similar to using a computer at a local Internet cafe, Microsoft said.

FlexGo will generally work like this: a user will pay for about half the cost of the computer upfront, and then will purchase pre-paid scratch cards to get hourly access to the computer at home. If the pre-paid card runs out and the user does not buy more hours, the computer stops working until the user buys another card.

Tags: FlexGo, Microsoft