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Microsoft Unbundles Software For NY City
doishmere writes "Microsoft has agreed to sell individual pieces of software to NY City workers, rather than forcing each seat to buy a full suite of software. The city has created three classes of users based on which pieces of software they need to perform their job, and Microsoft will sell software packages tailored to each class at a reduced price."
Getting money for something someone else has done. The NYC employees uses a Mac or LibreOffice, it matters not, Microsoft still collects.
It's impressive that you typed that well thought out post (your first post, no less!) all in one minute after the story was made public, despite lack of a subscriber account. It's almost like you knew beforehand that this story was going to appear and wanted to get some pro MS sentiment in before anyone else had a chance to say anything..! How much were you paid for that, exactly?
which is totally what she said
Quicker to read learn more about this from a simple search or two:
http://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy&hl=en&tbs=nws%3A1&source=hp&q=Microsoft+new+york+city&btnG=Search
http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=microsoft+new+york+city&go=&form=QBNR&qs=n&sk=&sc=5-19
Well, at least he's right about Visual Studio(as far as Windows is concerned). The fact that the Express version is free AND comes with a free implementation of MSSQL only cements it in because it is the entry point, it's free, and it's what everyone uses in lower division college courses. No better way to lock in your market
No, but it does include me kicking your teeth you.
Big cities are shit by nature.
It looks like you're shilling for Microsoft. Would you like to:
* Talk about how Microsoft solutions are enterprise ready
* Bash Google and/or Apple for no apparent reason
* Mention the hidden costs of open source
* Cleverly forget to mention Microsoft disasters such as Bob, the Zune, Windows Mobile, or Vista
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
If you're one of those that appreciate quality, you go with Microsoft.
Is this sarcasm?
I mean you even mention the red ring of death producing machine right there.
and it's what everyone uses in lower division college courses
Really? I see Eclipse all over the place. Maybe I have not look around enough though...
Palm trees and 8
I like Windows and Visual Studio as well does that make me a shill too?
No. We don't need anymore east coasters out here. It's bad enough already
Really? I had to use vi through a remote terminal. But I think my professor may have been a sadist.
Depends. Are you posting comments praising it that are unrelated to the topic?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
If you're one of those that appreciate quality, you go with Microsoft.
Hmmm...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZSeries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NonStop
Yup, I see your point.
Palm trees and 8
The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.
It's what I've seen across numerous CSU and CCC campuses. Maybe it's a CA thing
I don't see what is particularly wrong with that, for an introductory class...
Palm trees and 8
Who modded that post "insightful?"
Palm trees and 8
In the first place?
I mean, the fact that Microsoft was forcing software bundles on the city seems very sneaky and underhanded. Usually when you're dealing with that big of a client, you're cutting them the deal, not the other way around.
Also, as much as I love Windows, there is no reason that organizations looking to save money should not be using OpenOffice or one of its variants.
CmdrTaco has a goatee (or goatsee, as he calls it)
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Maybe free hot dogs from NY street vendors for their employees. This would definitely be a mission for these guys: http://improveverywhere.com/
Armies of folks converge somewhere in NYC, wearing Microsoft T-Shirts, and demand their free hot dogs. And then disappear.
Actually, the trick would probably work better if the folks had iPhone / IPad / iWhatever T-Shirts . . .
An old NYC saying says, "A hot dog vendor, and his hot dog, are not easily parted . . . without a cash payment, or a bare knuckles fist fight."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Wait... so they "unbundled" the Office Suite and recreated 3 new bundles costing on average $500 per person? That's the same price as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, and Publisher bundled together as Office Professional 2010 without a bulk institutional discount!
What a deal!
You do know that the subscriber asterisk can be turned off, right?
... is an explanation of why apparently no city employee in any function whatsoever could so much as even consider using OpenOffice for anything at all.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
They will slowly be strangled by those closed [proprietary] Microsoft Office formats.
It's document editing and email...for now. What Microsoft will do is to wait for another administration then 'sweeten' the deal. Slowly, Powerpoint, Excel, and all the rest will come into the fold. Then...
Guess what! They will be hooked to the extent that thinking of another alternative will be too expensive a proposition.
Time will tell...but I am almost sure New Yorkers have not seen nothing yet.
Over the years I have seen many pro-MS posters accused of being shills for MS.
I think this is the first time I actually agree with the others that you are indeed a shill.
_
I guess now I can convince MS to sell me their uninstall utility. That's all I want to use.
Check out the last three digits of the ID number on the GP's new account. I think his affiliations are pretty clear.
TL;DR
Writing long crap and repeating it all over doesn't make it more right.
For your information, in my university, almost everyone uses a Mac - students and teachers. Most of them dual boot or virtualize fedora or ubuntu. I can count with my fingers the number of people running windows. Another interesting fact is that the worst students are the ones running *only* Microsoft Windows.
Oh, and by the way - I run another special flavor of Linux which probably doesn't mean anything to you.
Microsoft is the topic.
I am constantly surprised when I see figures like this. I love OpenOffice/LibreOffice its incredible and Microsoft Office is simply not worth the money to me. I cannot think how many Developers NewYork could add to its workforce with its own Bespoke Extensions that it cannot be worth the money. I keep seeing all these large migrations from Office. When will there be a move with real Developer power behind it.
The use of an IDE in a college is decided first and foremost by which language/platform they use to teach, and that typically depends on the local IT job market - there are places where Java is on top, and there are places where .NET is on top, even within the same country (like US).
GAO contracts usually have a "most favored customer" clause, meaning that any better offer to another customer is automatically offered to the federal government. I wonder that such terms apply in this case.
No. Microsoft giving customers a reasonably well packaged offering is the news item.
If you want to praise someone for this you ought to praise the existence of macs, linux, openoffice.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
The west coast is any better? Fuck. I live in San Diego and this is the biggest piece of news I've heard in months...
yes
Microsoft is a corporation, a technology corporation but a corporation nevertheless. The mentality behind this move is very clear: whatever it takes for the dog to bite. If they scoffed and tried to force the entire suite of products at full price on a cash-strapped city on the heels of an election they would get no business whatsoever, and some PHB who finally listened to the greyhair running the servers would find out exactly how good microsofts competition is. business operating is a recession is still business, it just becomes slightly less encumbered.
Good people go to bed earlier.
And after 20 years, there still
isn't anything that comes even close to Visual Studio as a development environment.
*cough* *cough* And after 34 years, there still isn't anything that comes even close to Vi.
There! Fixed that for you.
I am anarch of all I survey.
Now they're trying to foist the idea of a caste system on the rest of the poor sods out there stuck using Windows (not just the ones working at Microsoft) because of idiotic decisions on workplace IT policies made by people who don't end up having to support and implement what ends up being purchased. Or those IT heads incompetent enough to still keep continuing to promote using any Microsoft software.
I've maintained for several years now that the above point is the main reason that Windows, Office and Server are pretty much the only thing keeping Microsoft solvent, as those three divisions' continuing success mainly hinges on the applied wisdom of decision making by the heads of educational, corporate and government institutions regarding technical matters (or rather the complete lack thereof) rather than Microsoft making any discernable effort regarding the quality of the products and services they provide...
I'm honest enough to admit I lie to myself.
I wish Linux and openoffice had been the motivator. Google Apps and gmail
is to be given credit for this one. Microsoft is scared s--tless of google apps because
its catching on in the enterprise where Microsoft's bread and butter is. If
lower tier workers can use google and google apps for 90% of their work then their bosses
will figure out how to shift the other 10% on to others. It also deprives them of revenue
from Outlook when google hosts email on their servers.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Well, at least he's right about Visual Studio(as far as Windows is concerned). The fact that the Express version is free AND comes with a free implementation of MSSQL only cements it in because it is the entry point, it's free, and it's what everyone uses in lower division college courses. No better way to lock in your market
This is why they made Marijuana Illegal.
- Dan.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
not that i'd expect you to have one...
It would... but that would also depend on Microsoft being a Direct GAO Vendor.
Not saying that they aren't... but my gut tells me that some distributor(s) that is(are) able to resell volume licences is more likely the one on a GAO Contract.
#1 tech news site and it doesn't have a Microsoft section
Please bury this comment I think it might be borderline heresy.
Why is Mr. Efficient City Bloomberg using Microsoft Office at all?
Using OpenOffice throughout NYC would save tens of dollars per employee if not hundreds of dollars per employee.
so true
It doesn't matter. It's a brand new account, and that is his only post, ever. I really doubt that account has a subscription. Chances of it all being a coincidence seem rather low to me.
which is totally what she said
I like Visual Studio too, what difference does it make. This guy is going far beyond "I like Visual Studio", it reads like a psychopath trying to get someone to sleep with him. That account is brand new, has only one post, and he would have to be a very organised thinker as well as a rather hyperactive typer to get all of that out in a maximum of two minutes after the story appeared. It all seemed a bit too orchestrated to me.
which is totally what she said
For what it's worth, we used both for different courses at my Uni.
which is totally what she said
For sufficiently large customers or groups of customers, it has always been possible to get special offers from Microsoft. I think the city of New York qualifies for this category.
For comparison:
In the early 90s, Microsoft created the XP Corporate edition that does not need activation, to appease large customers who were worried about losing the ability to install their copies of XP.
Later, Microsoft shared source code with some universities and government agencies to counter the advantage of Open Source in being more accessible for security audits.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Hopefully a lot. That makes his comment being modded -1 Troll all the more funny.
Good job calling him out on it :)
Hmm.. Jdeveloper (from Oracle) is free as is Eclipse and NetBeans, and not just the crippled versions. The super-duper versions are free, too. Oracle XE is free as well, along with MySQL and PostgreSQL. There are other alternatives to Microsoft when it comes to free software. Most of the others don't have strings attached, too.
Disclamer: I do not work for Oracle. I wasn't paid by anybody to say this. Hell, I wish I was - I could use the extra cash.
Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.
For your information, in my university, almost everyone uses a Mac - students and teachers. Most of them dual boot or virtualize fedora or ubuntu.
For your information, in my current workplace (and in every other previous workplace) everyone uses Windows and the words "dual boot" and "virtualize" would mean precisely nothing to them.
I assume you are some sort of computer science student? You are not a typical user, and a university is not the real world.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
It would be great to see Open Source versions for such online tools, but there are none
Awful sure of yourself there, buddy. What tools have no OS counterparts?
I made the decision to upgrade all computers with Windows 7
Why would a business do that? There's little if any added functionality over XP. Yes, 7 is nicer, but there's no way it could increase productivity. What kind of businessman would waste cash like that? Especially in an economy like this? I suggest you start job hunting, because with that kind of wastefulness your company will be in Chapter 13 before Balmer can throw a chair.
one-of-a-kind Office tools
Such as?
Ha ha aha HA HA HA! STOPPIT!!! YER KILLIN' ME!!! ha ha HA HA HA Bing! Man, you ought to be on Comedy Central! Now, another suggestion -- take your meds, son.
Free Martian Whores!
"virtualize" would mean precisely nothing to them.
Then your are working with a bunch of dumb people. Apple made so simple software virtualization in their OS that everyone can install crap there without realizing what they are doing.
I assume you are some sort of computer science student? You are not a typical user, and a university is not the real world.
Yes I am. University is not real world? What is it then? Imagination from my head?
Seriously though, I was just telling that in my department people is quickly moving to OSX. Did you really need to come with all of that weaponry?
Oh and by the way.. It's not only in my department, girls in Chemistry and Biology also found out they look sexy with Macbooks.
"New York City has put the squeeze on Microsoft, negotiating a bulk software purchase that should lower technology costs for the city and give government workers access to more modern applications .. But Microsoft’s agreement with New York covers a broader set of applications beyond office software that Google has yet to match" link
What `broader set of applications' does MS offer that NYC needs to do its work?
He's not an astroturfer, he's a troll.
First of all look at the misnamed product:
Windows Mobile 7,
It's Windows Phone 7 (and a big step backwards from any WinMo products, but that's beside the point)
Next, he disses "cloud computing:"
storing company data "in the cloud" is not a good idea.
Not what a company selling cloud computing products (such as a "cloud" email server off the top of my head, IIRC they also have a Google Apps clone) would do.
And finally, he winks at anyone who knows how to recognize a troll post:
made me horny over a computer equipment.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Really? I had to use vi through a remote terminal. But I think my professor may have been a sadist.
Your professor was doing you a favour. Whether you realized it at the time is another matter. During a previous contract I had one coworker actually make the comment, "Oh, you work at the UNIX command prompt." Yeah, I was integrating a *nix-based service running on Sun Solaris; what did my coworker expect me to do? Write the code using Microsoft Notepad and transfer the file to the *nix server?
The same thing happened to me a few years ago. I'd been away from slashdot for a few years, changed ISPs and forgotten my /. password, so I re-registered with "sm62702" (later emailed /. help and got my old uid back). Someone registered under sm627O2 (replacing zero with capital O) and even went so far as to try and write journals like me (good luck with that).
Imitation is the creepiest form of flattery!
Free Martian Whores!
Really? I had to use vi through a remote terminal. But I think my professor may have been a sadist.
You say it likes it a bad thing, that's how I work everyday.
Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
I disagree. Visual Studio with ViEmu blows them both away. Truly the best of both worlds.
Really? I had to put a deck of punched cards in a box and wait for a printout to come back a few hours later.
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
I like Windows and Visual Studio as well does that make me a shill too?
Yes. At least, according to some - I can't find it now, but I recall a thread with one person who basically insisted that if you're speaking favorably of "M$", you are a shill. By itself this is not unexpected - there are zealots everywhere - but a disturbingly large number of people spoke up to agree with him (in addition to the +5 insightful mod).
That is bad news for Google, which has been heavily investing in developing online versions of similar applications that Microsoft offers.
I think you got something mixed up - perhaps you meant to say "Microsoft, which has been heavily investing in catching up to the online product offering of Google"?
Really? I had to plug wires into panels and pull dead flies out of the works.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
For Microsoft quality is very important. They spend a lot of money and there best developers on getting the quality exactly how they want it: make the quality and the user experience of the reduced packages so bad that everyone will just have to get the full package. If the reduced packages are bad enough, then no one will dare switching back to it, so there will be no need to improve the quality of the full package. The easyest way to do this is making small but critical details incompatible with the full version.