>>This was a relatively isolated event for the purpose of publicity.
perhaps not so isolated see this article
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/07/10/microsoft_school/index.html
>From the $amounts being seen here it is apparent that the absolute price of
these licenses is large though they may be discounted from business prices,
they are far from free. It is apparent that MS wants to get students using
thier software and there are probably many good reasons that they will
discount their software for the schools. It is also apparent that they
would rather charge for thier software than give it away. There may be
isolated cases as you mentioned where they have given away thier software
but it don't think that it is even near reality to suggest that they would
do so for the entire US school system or even for an entire high school in a
small town. The positive PR would be drown in the cost of responding to the
flood of me-too requests from every other educational institution in the
world. Whether the school systems currently see the cost of this licensing
or not is the question. As the BSA starts to crack down on what the school
systems see as fair use of the few licenses that they have this issue will
become more and more important to schools and non-profits. The fact that
the OS licensing fee is bundled into the cost of the desktop unit obscures
this somewhat. Until the BSA stops by and audits you for all of the
compatible applications that you have loaded to use that OS. I don't think
that these are isolated examples from the BSA. The BSA has a charter of
methodically collecting from all violaters. School systems and non-profits
receive no break. This is an attempt to set an example but the first in a
wave. Whether the school systems come into compliance themselves and avoid
the penalties of a BSA audit or have to be brought into compliance through
the legal actions of the BSA the cost will be large if not unaffordable.
This is a serious piece of leverage in the argument to use linux in the
academic and non-profit arena.
----- Original Message -----
From: Brad Maxwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Ham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 12:15 PM
Subject: RE: Backing talk with action? (was: Re: News from the Mouth front)
>
> Fact:
> http://sanjose.bcentral.com/sanjose/stories/2001/03/05/daily24.html
>
> please reconcile
>
Easy. Notice that story is about unauthorized software. Also involved
vendors other than MS. It says nothing about what it might have cost the
school district to obtain licenses for the products in the first instance.
It does not say what the unauthorized titles were. This was a relatively
isolated event for the purpose of publicity. The fact remains, and you can
verify it easily, that MS will provide software to schools at very low
prices. It is in their interest to get kids to use their products at
school. Just good business. To accomplish that, they make it as easy as
possible for schools to buy their product.
Frankly, cost of MS software is not the point of this discussion. A factor
for schools and nonprofits, but not the central issue. Cost advantages in
terms of software will not get you very far when trying to convince school
officials. Try it and see. I reported a response from one. I have heard
similar responses. In some settings software costs are an issue and will be
a point in Linux's favor. In some cases it is not a major factor.
While I am precluded from disclosing particulars, I know because I read the
proposed agreement that MS offered a large state non-profit all the software
it needed for it's operation for free. Yes. All software from desktop to
server to accomplish its mission including customized IE on CDs for its
members. I assume you see the MS business reason for doing this.
Ed Lawson
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