How
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| jsusanka Jun 17, 2007 4:39 PM EDT |
"Furthermore, schools were licenced by Microsoft for the total number of computers, regardless of the operating system or software used." I personally would like to know how this is enforced. This is a school for crying out loud. It is none of microsoft's business how many pc's their customers have bought or are using. How can any competent CTO/CIO let this happen. How can the DOJ let this nonsense keep going on? There is no other industry that one company gets away with these shenanigans. thanks microsoft you make IT so much fun (it's a joke they don't make it fun they make it harder and more complicated with their closed proprietary standards) - and they wonder why people hate them so much. |
| jdixon Jun 17, 2007 4:55 PM EDT |
> I personally would like to know how this is enforced. This is a school for crying out loud. It's my understanding that the volume licenses Microsoft offers allow for them to require that you perform an audit, at your expense, to demonstrate that you're complying with the license. > How can any competent CTO/CIO let this happen. A competent one wouldn't. But then again, our idea of competent may not match theirs, and certainly doesn't match Microsoft's. |
| bigg Jun 17, 2007 5:26 PM EDT |
> How can the DOJ let this nonsense keep going on? Isn't this taking place in Norway? > How can any competent CTO/CIO let this happen. They may have gotten a good deal in order to prevent competitors getting a foot in the door. Don't forget that most school IT officers have no idea what Linux is. Whoever is in charge probably figured all of their computers would run Windows anyway, so what is that difference. It was Linpro, not the schools, that filed the complaint. |
| danns Jun 18, 2007 4:26 AM EDT |
I recall there being three tiers of licensing. In a nut shell there is the individual license, bulk license and software assurance license. Individual, as you can guess is a per-copy cost for the software. Have 40 computers, buy 40 licenses. This works out to be the most expensive I believe and it's a once and done deal. MS doesn't really want you to have this license. Bulk licensing (not what it is called) provides discounts depending on the quantity you purchase. Unless the school is extremely large it's ultimately cheaper when schools enter into a purchasing consortium like an Intermediate Unit (IU). An IU that purchases for maybe 30 districts can save significant money per license compared to the individual licensing. The license I believe is purchased outright and the contract lasts about 3 years at that pricing level. Updates I believe are built in for that 3 year period. What MS really wants schools to purchase is their software assurance program. The district pays on an annual basis based on the number of cpu's they have capable of running the software; regardless as to whether the system is running the software or not. Upgrades are included in the cost along with additional system purchases within that year. If you start with a license for 1000 systems then purchase 500 more, those 500 are covered that year. When the year is up the contract is re-calculated to include those additional 500 computers. Upfront the costs per licenses is the cheapest this way, in some cases like a third of the cost of retail. Contracts run for 3 or 5 years I believe but licenses are not purchased by the district. Should the district discontinue the contract they either have to buy out the license or remove all the software from their systems. In the long run the software assurance plan is quite expensive, but the entire costs is spread over 3 years. I have not kept up on this story but it almost sounds like the district did not read the license they complied with carefully. |
| jdixon Jun 18, 2007 5:44 AM EDT |
> I recall there being three tiers of licensing. Pretty much so, yes, but not exactly. A summary of the various Microsoft volume licenses can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/default.mspx |
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