Are Colleges Helping to Maintain the Microsoft Monopoly?

lexus99 asks: "Recently, while attending college and wanting to take tests in order to avoid taking basic computer courses, I have signed up for a few SAM (Skills Assessment Manager) tests. What really surprised me is that these tests are entirely based upon Microsoft products (Windows XP and Office XP). Note that this course is -required- before taking any any of the more advanced courses. Is this not a clear cut case of U.S. Colleges forcing its students to exclusively use Microsoft's software? Does Microsoft pay for this 'privledge', or do the schools get some type of M$ discounts? I don't believe that I will have any problem passing these tests, as I frequently use M$ software in my workplace, but I cannot help but feel insulted that I have to take them in order to take more advanced UNIX courses." This issue is a lot more complex than it sounds. Many colleges fall into Microsoft's software because they do get decent volume discounts and Microsoft provides them with decent service, so why change what works? However, with the new licensing schemes that Microsoft is beginning to push, maybe we'll see some change in this area in the near future. Have any of you seen evidence of Microsoft worming it's way into your college courses?

Comments

Re:Graphics @ mah.se

[adamjaskie]

It may cost a large amount to make an IE-only site work properly with Mozilla, or other standards complient browsers, but that's not the point. If you make the site to work in Mozilla and other complient browsers in the first place, it might cost, lets say, $10. Then, you make the necisary changes to get it to work in IE. $0.10. Once it works in Mozilla, there isnt much you need to do to get it working in IE. IE is pretty close to the standards. It just majorly breaks them in a few key areas, and needs workarounds. IE6, btw, fixed the bugs that allowed the workarounds, but did not fix the bugs that nescesitated the workarounds. Another big problem is how IE fixes HTML errors invisibly, trying to determine what the designer wanted to do, but without telling the designer something is wrong. This makes the designer falsely belive that the page is working properly, when in fact it is not, and may render differently on a tuesday.