NEWS Microsoft has today announced it will be cutting the prices of its software licences, saving users between 20 and 37 per cent of their software spend – but only for schools.
A 'memorandum of understanding' has been signed between the software giant and the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) to cut the licensing fees, which the two are predicting will save English schools around £46m over three years, with those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland saving between £2.5-3m.
The aim of the deal isn't to change schools' buying habits apparently – schools are still free to purchase the software of their choice, although the reductions might be difficult to resist for cash-strapped institutions – but the scheme will cut down the expense for those that opt for Microsoft products.
The deal will take effect from the 1 January 2004, having been agreed after "complex and difficult negotiations".
David Burrows, Microsoft's director of education, told silicon.com that the software giant is simply acknowledging the importance of the education software market. "Education invests a lot in ICT and they weren't persuaded it was best value...the deal is recognition of resources being tight and the value of the market. It's a good deal for us and a good deal for schools," he said.
While Microsoft might be 'giving something back', you could be forgive for asking 'what's in it for them?' – a chance to start users on the path away from Linux early perhaps? Not so, according to Burrows. "This isn't a plot," he told silicon.com. "Children have a choice – and most are very savvy about what they use. Teachers have told us they want to be using our software. It's very popular, the children's parents use it, they'll use it at work. We're just recognising the popularity of our products."
Simon Tindall, head of education and research at Sun, isn't taken with the Microsoft as fairy godmother story. "It looks like a trumped-up volume agreement," he told silicon.com. "It doesn't mention the cost – how much they still have to pay – to get those volume discounts. It's the old saying, you can't put perfume on a pig – it's still a pig."
Tindall thinks the deal is Microsoft's attempt to attempt to sew up the education market, even if it means lower profit margins, and put the mockers on the growth of open source and other competition. "In the longer term, they're concerned about the growth of open source and interest in Linux and Java – they're trying to snub them out. They want to perpetuate the status quo," he told silicon.com. "It borders on the anti-competitive."
Gates and co won't be relinquishing their hold on the education market just yet, however. In the pipeline for Microsoft's educational arm is a continuous development programme for teachers and an online forum "by teachers for teachers".
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Lawrence Scott
Glad to here it im an ICT manger at a school and we pay £15000+ a year on the Microsoft schools agreement and we are still expanding our ICT infrastructure. All they to do now is make their server software cheaper and ill be happoer
2. Steve Phillips
If only the Linux variants were as readily "useable" then more would be taken up. I would certainly use Linux at least alongside MS products and maybe even as a preference but I feel there is still a long way to go. The installs and configurations need to be more inline with educational requirements - less "overhead" in the way of games, utilities etc and more readily able to access things like Netware (as an example).
3. Dick Busch
There's no reason at all any more for educational buyers to settle for still-onerous Micro$haft purchase arrangements. Linux has ALL the apps students need, way better stability and security, and a development environment that has a growing mindshare among Computer Sci students.
Students ARE savvy: they'd rather have an open development and user environment, get OSes and hundreds of apps at a TINY fraction of what M$ crapware and Winapps cost!
The average Linux distribution comes not only with an Office Suite (or two!), but hundreds of other apps as well.
The perfume can't hide the stink of the pig.
4. anonymous
Is it just by chance that Microsoft has decided to do this in a nation that his strongly for Linux, or another Microsoft tactic to get customers, then drive up the price? Again, how much do you have to spend and keep spending to get this discount!
5. Dominic Tristram
People might complain that an Open Source solution doesn't have the features of the Microsoft solution. However, if even half of this money was spent on improving the Open Source software than this argument falls down too (not that I think schools need anything that can't be done in Linux/Open Office as it is now). Even better, this money would be put into the UK technology sector rather than straight into Microsofts bank account.
Putting Microsoft into schools is locking us in to their software by ensuring that school leavers don't know any better. This is a disgraceful use of public money.
6. Richard Ash
Universities are just as bad - Computer prorgamming for electronic engineering first years is not only taught on Windows / Visual Studio, but impossible to do anywhere else. Even the 'ANSI C' examples use M$ specific headers and function calls. As a linux network user I get no suport, and staff continually assume everyone will use windows to veiw resources (internal web pages, etc, etc).