Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Assume that bandwidth will grow toward 10Mb d/l per home connection over the next 3 years.

Assume that people’s Internet connections will be as reliable as their phone’s dial tone.

Assume that workstation hard drives are not the appropriate place to store the "source" media for software package purchases.

Assume that every Windows user wants a consistent, reliable method of retrieving backups of the software they’ve purchased, anytime, anywhere.

Assume that people want to have the most a current version of the software that they purchased.

 

Today, individual companies selling software online in this way are doing so with their own servers, their own Internet connections, and their own transaction systems.  They are tracking individual users on their own databases and they are using their own resources to do so.

 

This is an inconsistent purchasing & downloading experience for end users.  Think of your Mom & Dad.

This inconsistent experience means that each application can not rely on a consistent Internet location for things like application self healing over the Internet.

This purchasing & downloading experience requires every manufacturer to provide identification systems and downloading bandwidth on their own.

 

Digital Locker provides that consistent location for software purchases and storage online.

 

The digital locker was designed to give customers a single page for controlling their personal information and purchase history, allowing them to instantly see what software licenses they own. Microsoft is offering programs from the libraries of Digital River, eSellerate, Handango and Kagi, but will not support independent ISVs. Credit card charges will be handled by Microsoft’s delivery partners.