US patent application number 20080319910, published on Christmas Day 2008, details Microsoft's vision of a situation where a "standard model" of PC is given away or heavily subsidized by someone in the supply chain. The end user then pays to use the computer, with charges based on both the length of usage time and the performance levels utilized, along with a "one-time charge".
The US Patent & Trademark Office said no.../snip..The office also pointed out that all the claims included in the patent application described stuff that was already patented.