In Microsoft's future, the user would be given a computer free of charge or at a greatly reduced price. Basically, almost every customers makes a compromise between the performance he needs and the budget he has for that specific system.

Furthermore, users often find that their computer needs change over time and that the system they purchased just a few months ago is no longer meeting their needs. In exchange for the free or discounted computer, the user would pay a per-use fee to the company providing the PC along with some sort of one-time charge.

According to Microsoft, the cost for using the pay-per-use method to obtain a PC will make it more expensive over the lifetime for a consumer than simply buying a computer. One of the main components of the pay-per-use future that Microsoft thinks of is a security module that locks the PC to the supplier, making the machine very secure and guaranteeing the providers' investment in the system.

In addition, Microsoft also said the method they proposed would allow a more granular approach to hardware and software sales. The method would make PCs more profitable for provider, but it would probably cost the consumer more money in the end than simply buying their own PC via traditional means.

How would this system look like? Microsoft will probably ask $1.00 per hour for the office bundle, $1.25 per hour for the gaming bundle and 80 cents per hour for the browsing bundle. It would mean that a person using the office bundle would pay $8 per day. It remains to be seen if this system would be successfully implemented.