[Technical] Interesting computers-in-education piece. Education&the ACCC

[Con Zymaris]

On Fri, Aug 05, 2005 at 04:10:27PM +1000, Mark Snell wrote:
> Con Zymaris wrote:
> >
> 
> Con,
> 
> There are many levels here.

Now this is part of the understanding I don't have. Thanks for he backfill 
of knowledge.

> 
> The Schools Admin networks are a standard SOE Win XP, Office 2003 etc. 
> 2k3 server. roughly 2-10 workstations per school, depending on size

So this is what's being supplied under the $22 million deal?

> 
> Notebooks for Teachers & Principals Program
> Leased IBM laptops, Win XP, Office 2003 etc. for most teachers and 
> principals.

Agreed. All had OEM Windows 2000 and Office 2000, which has obviously been
refreshed to XP and Office 2003.

> 
> School Curriculum Network:
> whatever the school wants....
> but there are licences availble: 
> http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/ict/software/microsoft/agreements.htm

So, does this mean the following:

1) DE&T has done a deal with Microsoft to supply this software to schools 
   at lower rates than otherwise.

and

2) DE&T has paid for this arrangement?

If so, then this is the crux of the problem. And that is that DE&T didn't
offer that opportunity (for the supply of equivalent software in an
'agreement') to other vendors besides Microsoft.

Sure, DE&T may not be coming around to each school and force feeding the
installation of Microsoft products, but what the above 'agreement' does is
ensure that that happens anyway, as a matter of course.

I would bet that 99% of computers in public schools have some form of
Microsoft software installed on them, in large part because the wheels are
greased so well by the 'agreement' machinery above. To competitors, this 
is a problem and it's unfair.


-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
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