Re: [Fsfe-uk] [ALUG] Microsoft and schools (fwd)

[Alex Hudson]

On Fri, 2003-12-05 at 17:36, ian wrote:
> It will not cover all things. I should think the reality is that OEM
> Windows and MS Office are by far the biggest revenue generators.

That's absolutely correct.

> Its in all the presenters interests to show
> massive savings. MS (aren't we generous) BECTA (aren't we wonderful for
> saving all this taxpayers money) I bet the reality in savings are
> nowhere near the hype in practise but we shall see.

Indeed. Wasn't this kerfuffle all about MS price rises? (As in, their
new licensing schemes?). It would not surprise me if most, if not all,
of the saving was basically an offset against the increased licensing
costs. Or that UK Schools have agreed to licence more software, but at a
better discount - i.e., spending 60M instead of 50M, but getting 70M
worth of software: there's a 10M saving right there! 

The likelihood of MS being particularly generous are fairly low with
regards licensing costs. 

Cheers,

Alex.