08 July 2009

Not Kissing the Rod, Oh My Word, No

Becta today [6 July 2009] welcomes Microsoft's launch of the new Subscription Enrolment Schools Pilot (SESP) for UK schools, which provides greater flexibility and choice for schools who wish to use a Microsoft subscription agreement.

Great, and what might that mean, exactly?

The new licensing scheme removes the requirement that schools using subscription agreements pay Microsoft to licence systems that are using their competitor's technologies. So for the first time schools using Microsoft's subscription licensing agreements can decide for themselves how much of their ICT estate to licence.

So BECTA is celebrating that fact that schools - that is, we taxpayers - *no longer* have to "pay Microsoft to licence systems that are using their competitor's technologies"? They can now use GNU/Linux, for example, *without* having to pay Microsoft for the privilege?

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca.

2 comments:

guy said...

Do you think we could start a "faith school" based on the principles of free software? To argue that the Becta approved supplier list was discriminatory on religious grounds seems (sadly) far more likely to succeed than on grounds of logic.

And if a deity is required for faith schools then there's always the FSM.

Glyn Moody said...

ha! - very good. You're doubtless familiar with this:

http://stallman.org/saint.html