Howard,
I don't think there is too much likelihood of getting M$ products out of
schools when you consider the predatory prices that M$ charge education
for licences.
I think it's time to change the way we think of this concept.
Microsoft know that education matters and that those who know how to use
its products will recommend its products when they move into new IT jobs
or become influential in organisations to make product recommendations.
Therefore, Microsoft will license its products for free or little cost
to educational institutions or educational bodies.
Let's perform a substitute in the above statement: The Open Source
Communities know that education matters and that those who know how to
use its products will recommend its products when they move into new IT
jobs or become influential in organisations to make product
recommendations. Therefore, The Open Source Communities will license its
products for free or little cost to educational institutions or
educational bodies.
If we're going to define a pricing structure as predatory if it costs
nothing or is very low cost, then: Microsoft AND the Open Source
Communities are both predatory in that respect.
What we need to do is develop an additional paragraph that shows why
Microsoft's strategy might be damaging. I'll start with:
When the student recommends a Microsoft product, then there will be real
licensing costs and these costs for many installations can be prohibitive.
Let's perform the same substition: When the student recommends a product
developed by The Open Source Communities, then there will be real
licensing costs and these costs for many installations can be prohibitive.
INVALID. You can download many open source solutions and use them for no
licensing cost even for commercial uses. All solutions - open source or
otherwise will have some form of costs involved (and these costs may not
be measured in monetary terms).
DSL
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