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Microsoft today will pop the cork on its plans to sell software through subscriptions, rather than through licenses as it does now, as well as how it expects to recruit service providers to its new strategy.

In the first in a series of Windows-related initiatives expected to be introduced over the next two years, Microsoft will unveil details on how it plans to sell software through application service providers (ASPs), software service organizations that host Web sites.

Under the new plan, businesses will not buy copies of Windows or Microsoft Office software with a PC. Instead, they will effectively rent software from ASPs and pay a per-user monthly fee to use the software. The more applications each individual uses, the larger the monthly fee.

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