小羊英文报摘

In September, when Microsoft severely limited the game-streaming buffet available to Game Pass subscribers , the company said non-subscribers would soon be able to "purchase cloud playtime hours through the Xbox Store and stream eligible games they own on supported devices."

Today, Microsoft rolled out those a la carte Cloud Playtime purchases to Xbox Insiders, with prices that might be a bit galling for players who have already purchased these streamable games.

The "introductory launch pricing" for Xbox's Cloud Playtime purchases is as follows: 10 hours for $4 (~$0.40/hour) 25 hours for $8 (~$0.32/hour) 50 hours for $12 (~$0.24/hour) Purchased playtime "remains available until it’s used," Microsoft writes, so you don't have to worry about your 50-hour purchase expiring before you can use it fully.

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Enterprise-sized businesses spend, on average, 28 percent of their software budgets on unwanted upgrades, migrations, and licensing changes. Often, those firms' IT heads think those changes are detrimental.

Those results are according to a survey of 2,018 chief information officers and senior IT decision-makers at companies with at least 10,000 employees that Origina commissioned for its report, “ The Software Tax .”

About half of the respondents (1,011) are from the US, and the rest are from the United Kingdom. All respondents worked at companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue. Keep in mind that Origina provides maintenance for various enterprise software.

Its report points to independent software maintenance as a way for IT leaders to regain control over software budgets, illustrating its potential bias. A third-party research consultancy, Censuswide , conducted the survey. Read full article Comments