Re: [school-discuss] MS Schools Agreement anti-competitive UK

["Mark Evans" <mpe@st-peters-high.devon.sch.uk>]

On Wed, May 07, 2003 at 09:08:38AM +0100, ian wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-05-07 at 05:01, Leon Brooks wrote:
> > On Wed, 7 May 2003 00:00, Paul Tietjens wrote:
> > > Much like the Justice Department vs. Microsoft, the only thing
> > > litigation suggesting that site licenses are shady business practices
> > > will do, is obscure the real issues concerning Microsoft's way of
> > > doing business and creating software.
> > 
> > I strongly disagree. I haven't yet faced another software supplier 
> > pricing site licences based on machines running *competing* software.
> > 
> > Regardless of the issues from the schools' perspective, the licence 
> > plans are squarely anti-competitive from any other supplier's point of 
> > view.
> 
> And I have yet to find a non-computer industry person who doesn't agree
> when its explained to them. The fact of the matter is that most users

Yet many people's default position appears to be to thrown
all the rules (a good few thousand years worth of them) out
of the Window (pun unintended) when it comes to software
purchasing. 

If we wanted to buy expensive, named brand, computer
hardware. Even expensive, name brand, paper. We would
have to justify that decision to all sorts of people.

When it comes to software it sometimes almost appears
to be the opposite. Justification is needed for the
commodity, generic, brand. AFAICT nothing stops you
having "OpenOffice.org supplied by John's Computers".
But justification isn't needed with Microsoft Office...

> don't understand software licensing never mind the more intricate
> technical issues associated with MS business practice. MS rely on the

How easily can anyone understand proprietary software 
licencing.

e.g. what are the consequences where software is owned
by a government or quasi-corporate government department;
the installation and acceptance of any EULAs is perfomed
by either an employee or contractor of the owner and
the actual end user is a student who even if they did
see the EULA is a minor who is protected by statute from
being bound by it...

-- 
Mark Evans
St. Peter's CofE High School
Phone: +44 1392 204764 X109
Fax: +44 1392 204763