MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-05-07 |
| FROM | Ruben I Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] Attention Education Committee
|
The license enslaves the instituion and if they are using Free Software,
none of this is an issue.
One disk does it all...
> One thing to also keep in mind, this was an institution that was large
> enough to upgrade computers and software every year. Not all at once, but
> there were new computers coming in all the time. The contract saved them on
> having to purchase the software on new machines and they did not have to
> keep track of the licenses for software which was included under the
> contract.
>
>
>
> --
> Daniel Stringfield
> Site Supervisor - Secaucus
> Arsenal Digital Solutions Worldwide, Inc.
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ruben I Safir [mailto:ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 2:21 PM
> To: hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com; lamar.robertson-at-mail.house.gov
> Subject: [hangout] Attention Education Committee
>
>
>
>
> Form the register today
>
> Compulsory Windows: for Macs, and people without PCs?
> By John Lettice
> Posted: 05/07/2002 at 08:08 EST
>
> Microsoft has come up with another novel way to make its software compulsory
> - an annual subscription licensing system for schools where you have to pay
> for all of the computers you're using, even if you don't want them to run
> the Microsoft software you're licensing. This includes Macs, and although
> the Ts & Cs of the agreement don't make it entirely clear what you're
> supposed to do with the Windows upgrades you end up buying for these
> machines, we bet putting them on E-bay isn't a recommended option.
>
> The precise implementation of the agreement seems to vary depending on what
> part of the world you're in, but the inclusion of Macs in the headcount, and
> the insistence that you have to count all PCs rather than just a specific
> number you want to license, is probably general. In the US "Microsoft
> Schools Agreement 3.0," for example, "100 per cent of all Pentiums, Power
> Macs, iMacs or better" are specified, whereas the FAQ document for the UK
> Microsoft School Agreement says "You need to count 100% of all Pentiums,
> Power Macs and iMacs."
>
> The requirement is to some extent explicable in that schools operating both
> Intel and Apple machines are likely to want to standardise on applications,
> so it makes sense for them to tally up all of the machines in order to buy,
> say, Microsoft Office licences. But that presupposes that they're going to
> want to be able to do absolutely the same thing with every machine they own,
> and therefore license absolutely the same software for them, which is
> obviously not going to be true for everybody. Microsoft explains the
> requirement in near-religious terms: "School Agreement requires an
> institution-wide commitment."
>
> The nature of the oppression seems not be be precisely the same, depending
> on which side of the pond you're on. In the UK you just count up the notal
> number of eligible (i.e. compulsory, according to the redefinition of the
> word) machines, pay your dues then you get the following:
>
> "Microsoft Office Standard and Professional Editions (for Windows and
> Macintosh)
> Works Standard
> Windows Upgrade
> Core Client Access Licence
> Encarta Reference Suite and Encarta Online
> Visual Studio Professional
> Microsoft Press Office Starts Here Step by Step Interactive"
>
> Which is how you get your Windows upgrade for the Mac. In School Agreement
> 3.0, you take your number of eligible PCs (inc Macs, of course), then you
> select at least one product which you license for all eligible PCs. One of
> these packages is presumably the most popular, as it's the Desktop Package,
> which "Includes Office, Core CAL & Windows Upgrades," and offers discounts
> beyond what you'd get if you bought the components individually. So that's
> how you wind up buying Windows upgrades for Macs in the States.
>
> And if you're kidding yourself it's impossible to top getting people to pay
> for software they don't want to run on Intel boxes, and for software they
> can't run on Apple boxes, check out the Microsoft UK Campus Agreement. This
> has you paying for software for people who don't even have computers.
>
> According to the Campus Agreement FAQ, this is how it works. First you count
> up your total number of FTEs (Full Time Equivalents). An FTE is defined as
> all faculty and staff members "employed over 200 hours per annum" but this
> thoughtfully excludes "manual, ancillary, casual, maintenance,
> groundskeepers, cafeteria, and mailroom" staff, if you want to exclude them,
> that is, you can get a Windows upgrade for the canteen lady if you like. And
> yes, we know 200 hours per annum tallies up as five weeks work a year for
> normal people and ten for university lecturers, but that nevertheless is
> what it says.
>
> The objectives of the campus agreement, according to Microsoft, are to
> "count people, not computers... to run the most current software versions
> [and to make] significant savings on software and licensing and a simple
> annual payment." The agreement can also be extended to cover students, so
> institutions signing up will inevitably end up paying for software licences
> for people who don't want or need to run the software, or who don't want or
> have computers.
>
> In the interests of balance we should point out that the Campus Agreement
> and School Agreement FAQs both make clear that Open Licence and Select are
> still available, so the new subscription model isn't entirely compulsory,
> although we'd expect significant financial carrots and sticks to be
> associated with their introduction.
>
> In the interests of cheap humour we're also going to point out that in the
> first par of the School Agreement 3.0 calculator page it currently says:
> "For exact pricing, contact an Authorized Educaiton Reseller (AER)."
> Educaiton? We've heard of it...
>
> Finally, historians who've noted a certain similarity between the
> initiatives outlined above and that old 'per processor' licensing stuff,
> where OEMs paid Microsoft a fee for each machine they sold whether or not
> they shipped with Microsoft products on board, might care to remind
> themselves about this outstanding victory by the antitrust authorities. Of
> course that one only covered Intel boxes, not Macs and not people, so we've
> clearly come a long way in the intervening years. ®
>
> --
> __________________________
>
> Brooklyn Linux Solutions
> __________________________
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>
> 1-718-382-5752
>
>
>
> ____________________________
> New Yorker Linux Users Scene
> Fair Use -
> because it's either fair use or useless....
>
--
__________________________
Brooklyn Linux Solutions
__________________________
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting
http://www.brooklynonline.com - For the love of Brooklyn
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.nyfairuse.org - The foundation of Democracy
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources - Unpublished Archive or stories and articles from around the net
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/mp3/dr.mp3 - Imagine my surprise when I saw you...
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/downtown.html - See the New Downtown Brooklyn....
1-718-382-5752
____________________________
New Yorker Linux Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
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