Becta snuggles up to MS on UK schools licensing shake-upPosted Tuesday 7th July 2009 12:53 GMT
That prior to today, the previous Microsoft school agreement required every computer, whether it is a Mac or running Linux - still required a Windows licence? No way I hear you cry. Yes way, and god knows how they got away with it for so long.
Oh yes, if you wanted Office on the school agreement that was the same - school has 1,000 computers, 1,000 Office licences then please - whether you use OpenOffice or only install it on 1 PC.
Makes you think who the pirates really are.
Bill Gates because he started the whole TossSoft scenario.
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 12:53 GMT
"Microsoft software with improved opportunities to achieve greater value for money"
And since when free is a worse value? Muppets.
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 19:02 GMT
I was kind of hoping Becta's documented reluctance to Vista and Office 2007 the past couple of years was an indicator that something like the more logical adoption of Open Source software was in someone's head. In retrospect it was probably just an issue about computer system resources and the typical IT testing/development for such a large implementation. Bummer.
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
Yes I did and as a school IT admin it's made me VERY VERY angry for far too long, we were in the process of buying out but I might hang fire now and see.
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
"And since when free is a worse value? Muppets."
When your users can't do anything any more because Linux or OpenOffice "looks different"
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
The original agreement wasnt bad for us as we have 150 PCs and about a 1000 pupils. No macs, and one linux box (which we swalled a whopping £32 on)
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
Time makes more converts than reason. At least this is a, if not step, then a tiny shuffle in the right direction.
Obviously we'd prefer the schools industry in the UK to hire some proper IT intelligence and phase out Microsoft. But eh, it'll come.
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
I guess it's better than before, but I still think that Becta are a useless bunch of muppets who don't have the balls to tell Microsoft where to stick there restricted agreements.
Bit like Ofcom and Oftel before them, useless bunch of numpties who welcome a good screwing over by big business.
Rob
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
If anyone has ever seen the really advantageous pricing that Microsoft actually gives schools - it does put most vendors to shame!
The original annual agreement is good for many schools out there, as some network managers have no idea how many machines they have - let alone what's installed on the things!
The prices are cheap, so people who don't realise this really should stop complaining!
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 21:31 GMT
"That prior to today, the previous Microsoft school agreement required every computer, whether it is a Mac or running Linux - still required a Windows license?"
And BECTArd just handed over the money?
The public sector, it seems, has much to learn about basic economics and/or haggling skills. One still wonders how it is possible to determine that giving a company money is in any way cheaper than not giving a company money.
Why on earth are we conditioning our children to a single vendor's proprietary systems, rather than exposing them to multiple systems? To whine about lack of qualified/trained staff is simply to reinforce the same problem. Why not train the kiddies this generation so they are in a position to capitalize on their knowledge when they enter the job market?
Oh silly me.
Clearly someone is either incredibly dumb, or being given an annual backhander the size of Wales. Can't imagine which one is more likely.
Posted Tuesday 7th July 2009 22:22 GMT
Write into the specs for anyone tendering to supply software that it should conform to open source standards (i.e. OpenOffice.org) or that the complete data structures of the files produced should be fully documented and available without the possibility of retrospective lawsuits, and that any reverse engineering of the code is explicity permitted.
Posted Wednesday 8th July 2009 00:03 GMT
Come out cheaper (hopefully by a lot) than the prior gravy train? Or is it "the same pig, repainted and readvertised?"
Posted Wednesday 8th July 2009 00:03 GMT
"Obviously we'd prefer the schools industry in the UK to hire some proper IT intelligence and phase out Microsoft. But eh, it'll come."
I'd love to phase out Microsoft at our school but the truth is that the range of curriculum software available for Linux is practically nil. Server wise, every machine in the building runs CentOS apart from one server that runs SIMS, a Capita product that will not, in a million years, run on Linux.
BECTA is an organisation that no-one I know bothers listening to. Seriously, I don't know what they're for. When they were all open source friendly it had no impact whatsoever on what happened in school IT. If BECTA had any balls and really wanted to make a difference they'd recommend that all software submitted for educational use should be platform neutral. I could run on a minimal budget and life would be much easier.
Posted Wednesday 8th July 2009 12:12 GMT
My kid can't do coursework at home. Geography he HAS to use Powerpoint, nothing else is acceptable. GCSE ICT coursework HAD to use Dreamweaver with Flash buttons and Photoshopped images (OK, not M'soft but the same issue about cost vs open source). "Dad we need a copy of CS suite at home" "OK Son I'll dock the price from your pocket money, should clear the debt in 5 years" I took him through making a better in all respects (more compact, faster, better looking) hand coded HTML/CSS version. He said he didn't realise the hand coding was so straightforward, he understood what was happenning rather than a "black box" wysiwyg system doing who-knows what under the hood. Not acceptable at school, he had to use the approved crap version of his project. If I was going to use dreamweaver in a production situation I'd want proper training, probably several days, not a couple of hours in a classroom full of disruptive kids.
I suppose when the physics teachers get onto particle physics they'll say "can't teach this without our own Hadron collider", do trainee pilots get straingt into a 747 or start out on a little cessna?
"Yes but MS apps is what they'll encounter when they get a job"... so in 5 years time the apps will be just the same as now? And just how difficult is it to swap between Open Office and MS Office? As hard as swapping to Office 2007 from prior versions possibly?
Posted Wednesday 8th July 2009 12:12 GMT
So does Vista or new Office...
Posted Wednesday 8th July 2009 12:40 GMT
@ Humph "Why not train the kiddies this generation so they are in a position to capitalize on their knowledge when they enter the job market?"
Probably because the teachers are too busy implementing the latest Government directive, trying to control the disruptive elements, trying to improve the exam results, and so on. Also it depends on the ability of the staff to use ICT (sorry, that's what schools call it!) as it is used across the school and even some of the younger teachers can't recognise an on / off switch.
Plus, as the AC said, "When your users can't do anything any more because Linux or OpenOffice "looks different"". You have to be aware that students in the school can have english as a second language, may have learning difficulties, etc. and if the staff have no idea what they are doing how can they pass it on?
Finally, a lot of schools have managed networks using tools from the likes of Viglen & RM. I doubt those two will offer free software and even if they did you would still probably have to pay to have it installed on each PC.
This forum is now closed for new posts.
Back to the article
