Microsoft's interoperability dodge in U.K. schools
In an attempt to get its Office 2007 program on the desktops of U.K. youth, The Register reports that Microsoft is saying all the right things to the U.K. government in its attempt to placate the European Commission over interoperability with open file formats. Everything, that is, except how it intends to make its software more interoperable
Now Microsoft has stepped in to appease some of the education tech body's grumbles by announcing a new Open Licensing Programme (OLP) for government that will launch at the start of next month.
The company said the OLP offered "a new way for public sector organisations to purchase software from Microsoft resellers" who will sell MS products at a discounted rate.
However, while offering Microsoft products with a reduced price tag to the public sector might be viewed by some as a move in the right direction, the firm didn't reveal how Office 2007 might be made more interoperable with other doc formats.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" seems to be the strategy. Discounts are nice, but discounts only make it cheaper to fall into lock-in. The Open Source Consortium's president, Mark Taylor, says it well: "Schools can now choose between long-term software freedom or a short-term discount on the next lock-in play."
Fortunately, groups like Becta, which brought the original complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission, are unlikely to fall asleep at the wheel.
Microsoft will no doubt eventually be forced into offering interoperability alongside its discounts. As noted on InfoWorld, Microsoft has even made some strides toward a more peaceful future with open source, the kissing cousin to open standards.
It's just too bad that so much time must be wasted along the way.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
1. I wouldn't be so sure that BECTA will not bend over... http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=1268&blogid=14
2. M$ Are having a great time tying down the education sector in South Australia: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24332886-5006787,00.html
The EC is investigating the UhOhXML standardization process. That should be fun.
- by hozelda September 17, 2008 12:18 PM PDT
- They're using UhOhXML? What a controversial format if I've ever seen one! Has Microsoft even published their limited number of fixes among the many faults that were not resolved to the satisfaction of most of the standardization participants? Having four objections from the participating members was formerly unheard of.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(6 Comments)The EC is investigating the UhOhXML standardization process. That should be fun.