Over at ZDNet, Steve Gillmor (left) has a wonderful commentary that got me thinking about a financial disease, one to which corporations like Microsoft are addicted and by which users like us are burdened.

I call it Upgrade-itis.

The fact is that Microsoft's financial health depends on its customers getting new software every year or two. Back in the 1990s this was OK, because the new software was usually a vast improvement over what came before. But now it has become a burden, because PCs work, and the software that runs them has become fairly standardized.

Thus Microsoft looks at security as an excuse, cutting off updates to older systems in hopes it can force them to buy that software again. Then it looks to DRM as an excuse, restricting use of Office to a single machine so that, when that machine becomes obsolete, users have to buy it again.

Gillmor's point was how he used Google Mail to give his daughter most of the functions of Microsoft Office for literally no cost. Google doesn't do what Word or Excel or PowerPoint do, but it does enough so that a kid can do their word processing on it, and avoid the $500 expense of Office. Google, meanwhile, will keep getting better, offering more functionality through the Web, while Microsoft remains tied to its older business model.

Does the Web offer a cure for Upgrade-itis?

Linux, and open source software in general, often replicates the functionality of proprietary software that has become standardized. Instead of paying for upgrades, users pay for services, and the model seems to work -- for the users at least.

Is open source the cure for Upgrade-itis?

Apple has been successful in convincing its user base that it's valuable to upgrade. It has periodically changed the underpinnings of its software, rendering older stuff completely obsolete, with no apologies, then loaded the new stuff with great new features and functions that have its fans rushing stores, checkbooks in hand.

Features are the ultimate cure for Upgrade-itis.

It's clear that companies with standard software offerings are facing increased resistance on upgrades from users. People don't want to pay for what they thought they already paid for, never mind that you spent the money they gave you then and now need more.

Fighting to demand upgrades, spending all your time, money, and executive effort on finding things to scare people with, or ways to force people into buying worthless upgrades, is a game with a clear end point to it.