College Officials Blast Microsoft Over New Software-Licensing Policy chronicle.com
No news on that other front, but needless to say I couldn't resist a headline like this.
Aleisa Spain, Microsoft's director of higher-education marketing, attended the meeting, along with public-relations officials and sales representatives of the giant software company. She said they had agreed to attend in order to "get feedback so we can be a better business partner for you."
But college administrators complained that Ms. Spain had little understanding of how universities use Microsoft's products. For instance, Ms. Spain told the administrators that they should know exactly what software would be used on each computer. Administrators explained that because students work from many different locations throughout the day -- from their rooms, from public computer clusters, and from the library -- every computer must have access to every kind of program the students might need.
"You basically know what computers will run this software," said Ms. Spain.
"No, we don't," said someone in the audience. "This is a network."
...
Ms. Spain said that Microsoft had decided to eliminate the old licensing program because there was "very, very low interest" in it. She said business customers had called on the company to simplify its licensing plans. She said the decision on the licensing program was "not a way for us at Microsoft to gain more revenue."
Of course not. (tee hee hee) Just part of the old business plan. After all, what the customers really want is "free" IE, with a brand new interface on that 2 year old, obsolete Mac clone one in Windows95. They have no interest in getting the best product at the best price. They just need to understand the integrity and uniformity of the Microsoft experience.
Cheers, Dan. |
