When we first began offering BitWise Professional almost two and a half years ago, we thought long and hard about how to price it. We finally settled on the model that we still have today: a monthly service fee based on the number of active users. Every once in a while, someone will tell us that our pricing model is terrible, or that no one would ever possibly want to use BitWise because of it (which is not true at all), or any number of other "gloom and doom" statements.
Looks like we're not the only company to find the same advantages in offering a hosted service. I chuckled when I saw an advertisement in a current magazine for IBM's anti-spam service, which is billed in a similar way to BitWise Professional: you pay a small monthly fee per email address for the anti-spam service. Just like with BitWise, it is a hosted service, so licensing and upgrades are not an issue.
I guess that makes us innovative rather than crazy. At least I can tell myself that, anyway. :)
Now sit down, wait a few years until all other companies will do the same, and then announce loudly patent ownership and ask for payments from every OS install ;-)
ABX