That the school district is admiting that it's not got licenses for it's machines. I mean if they were compliant, they'd have all the licenses in one place, and have a policy that says who and when a machine can be loaded.
Even if they had used Linux it sounds like they need some education on documenting software loaded on machines.
Predatory? Monopolistic? Customer-unfriendly? Microsoft?
Say it ain't, Joe . . . and Steve and John and Scott and the rest of the computer tech supervisors at the 24 largest school districts in Oregon and Washington.
At the busiest time of the year for those districts, Microsoft is demanding that they conduct an internal software audit to "certify licensing compliance." In a March letter, the software giant gave Portland Public Schools 60 days to inventory its 25,000 computers.
"Which," said Scott Robinson, the district's chief technology officer, "is a virtual impossibility."
Microsoft is well within its rights to call for an audit. Everyone says so. Everyone has read the contract. But school officials in both states are calling the audits "untimely," "outrageous" and "typical of Microsoft: not very bright."
Many also consider the audit requirement a strong-arm tactic to push school districts into Microsoft's costly system-wide licensing agreements.
"Given the fact that the letter came from their marketing department, and included a brochure about their school licensing agreement, this didn't seem terribly subtle to any of us," said Steve Carlson, associate superintendent for information and technology for Beaverton schools.
"I have a more simplistic view," said John Rowlands, director of information services for the Seattle School District: "They just want to squeeze every nickel out of us they can."
For sheer irony, it's hard to beat the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pouring millions of dollars into small, high-tech high schools even as Microsoft is looking for loose change at schools such as Jefferson and Marshall.
The school districts are considered guilty of software piracy until they can prove they're in licensing compliance. If the district can't drum up the staff to manage the inventory, Microsoft is willing to show up with its own audit crew, but if a single computer is found with illegal or undocumented software, the district must pay for the audit.
"This doesn't recognize any of the complexities of the educational environment," Robinson said. Many of the 25,000 computers in Portland schools were donated and arrive without pedigree or papers. "We're bubblegum and baling wire in terms of what we're putting on the desktops. For us to try to manage every donated desktop that comes in from a business or an individual is ridiculous."
Ah, but wait. Microsoft has an offer it thinks you can't refuse, if only to avoid the audit: the vaunted Microsoft School Agreement. Under the terms of this agreement, a school or district simply counts its computers and pays Microsoft somewhere in the neighborhood of $42 per machine for one systemwide annual license.
As Rowlands noted, IBM rolled out this idea years ago. Schools liked it because they could add hundreds of computers over the course of the school year and not pay for the additional software licenses until the next computer count.
But Microsoft has put a new spin on the agreement, requiring an "institution-wide commitment." That means the district must include in its count not only the PCs, but all the iMacs and Power Macs that might conceivably use Windows software.
What would it cost Portland Public Schools, which is already facing a $36 million shortfall, to sign that Microsoft School Agreement?
"A rough number? $500,000," Robinson said, "which translates, roughly, into 10 teaching positions."
No one at Microsoft -- and I dialed three different offices -- returned phone calls Friday to explain why the "random" audits targeted the nine largest school districts in Oregon and the 15 largest in Washington. Nor was anyone available to explain why Microsoft failed to notify the two groups chartered to represent the schools in licensing negotiations, the Oregon Educational Technology Consortium and the Washington School Information Processing Cooperative.
"Everyone has a bad taste about the way this came down," Carlson said. "The audit is heavy handed; its non-participatory. Either they're starting out with the assumption that we're all crooks or they feel they can bludgeon school districts into their marketing agreement. It's clear they're not spending much time talking to the schools they're purporting to be supportive of."
Thus, it's not surprising that several schools are asking, along with Robinson in Portland, "whether we want to continue with the Microsoft platform."
One of the options is Linux, open-source software schools can run on their desktops free of charge and without a license. Linux is particularly useful on donated computers that aren't worth the $100 Microsoft charges for a software license.
Paul Nelson, a teacher at Riverdale, and Eric Harrison with Multnomah ESD have developed a thin-client software called K12LTSP that runs Linux. In the last nine months, they've distributed the software to 5,000 schools.
"Schools and government agencies that are paying for Microsoft Office are wasting money," Nelson said. "They should be using free software. A lot of this stuff has become generic. It doesn't take a fancy program to make something bold."
R. Thor Prichard, the executive director at the Oregon Educational Technology Consortium, observed, "Microsoft has made it known they're concerned about Linux invading their territory. They're doing a lot of strategy building about eliminating Linux as a threat. Some of the districts they targeted are some of the districts doing initiatives in Linux."
Subtle? Artful? Benevolent? Microsoft? That'll be the day
NEW YORK (AP) -- Phil Zimmermann knows a thing or two about adversity.
His invention for encrypting e-mail, Pretty Good Privacy, was so good that the government considered it munitions subject to tough export controls. Prosecutors threatened him with criminal charges when others leaked it overseas.
The government ultimately backed off. But now, the company that makes the most popular version of PGP is the one pulling the plug.
It's yet another setback, but Zimmermann isn't rattled.
"PGP has been around for 10 years and has endured incredible obstacles and hardships," Zimmermann said. "Powerful forces have been arrayed to stop PGP and yet those obstacles were overcome."
PGP's future now lies with a handful of voluntary and entrepreneurial efforts that follow Zimmermann's designs. None carry the PGP name, though, as Network Associates Inc. retains trademark rights.
"People are very concerned about this development and would like to do something about it," Zimmermann said. "A way will be found."
Network Associates, which bought PGP from Zimmermann's PGP Inc. in 1997, sought a buyer last year for its e-mail and file encryption products. The company said it didn't get an attractive offer, so it dropped the products earlier this year.
Though some longtime PGP users insist Network Associates could have marketed the product better, others say the demand simply wasn't there.
"People aren't spending for encrypted e-mail," said Austin Hill, chief strategy officer at Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc.
He ought to know. His company dropped plans for PGP as well.
Encryption is difficult for average users to grasp, products aren't all that easy to use and the threats of not protecting e-mail from prying eyes aren't all that easy to explain, Hill said.
Private as a postcard
Internet users won't worry about using regular e-mail for credit card numbers, medical discussions and other sensitive information until they are directly harmed or see a well-publicized breach, security experts say.
Only then would they understand or care that using unencrypted e-mail is as private as sending a postcard. Without encryption, network administrators at Internet service providers, employers, intelligence agencies and hackers can snoop on e-mail in transit.
[Private as a postcard]
Network Associates will fix programming bugs for a year and honor existing service contracts, but it will no longer sell PGP or renew contracts. Though a free version remains available elsewhere, the company won't update it or make it compatible with newer operating systems, like Windows XP.
Having Network Associates aside will encourage others -- particularly volunteers -- to increase development efforts, said Yair Frankel, a cryptography consultant in Westfield, New Jersey.
"Many people believe that PGP from (Network Associates) was the only thing that existed," said Fabian Rodriguez, associate director of business development at Toxik Technologies Inc., a PGP vendor. "Now that it's not there, it sets the ground level equal for everybody."
PGP alternatives include the Gnu Privacy Guard, developed by volunteers under a license that permits anyone to freely use, modify and further distribute the product.
Lok Technology Inc. offers Web-based e-mail accounts that use PGP, while Authora Inc. makes PGP work with Outlook e-mail software and any Web-based e-mail system. Toxik handles data sent through online forms.
Other encryption methods exist, but none has PGP's popularity.
Alternative answers?
The alternatives still need work.
Authora, for instance, lacks compatibility with non-Microsoft e-mail software such as Eudora and Lotus Notes.
Gnu is only a command-line program and needs a graphical interface to be attractive to the vast majority of users. A few interfaces, including Windows Privacy Tray, have been developed but none are as versatile or simple as Network Associates' program.
[Alternative answers?]
The Gnu project "is the thing that comes close to what PGP from (Network Associates) was, and it's really not there yet," said David Del Torto, executive director of the CryptoRights Foundation, which promotes encryption for human rights workers.
Zimmermann, who chairs the OpenPGP Alliance and works with some commercial distributors, thinks any viable alternative will also need extensive marketing. And if the PGP user base is to expand, he said, tools must be easier to use.
John Miller, Lok's chief operating officer, described the Network Associates move as "a double-edge sword" for alternatives.
"They are leaving a hole in the marketplace, but when you're out there trying to get venture capital, backers and clients, they say, 'If a big company like (Network Associates) couldn't pull it off, what makes you think a smaller company could?"' Miller said.
Even if a viable PGP alternative comes along, whether e-mail encryption will ever grow in usage is another matter.
PGP developers believe there is growing interest in privacy, given new federal regulations governing financial and medical data.
But so far, PGP is limited primarily to niche markets, like human rights and organized crime -- authorities say mob suspect Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr. used it to encode gambling records.
"I don't think it's going to die," said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer for Counterpane Internet Security Inc. "It will just be what it is, a niche security product. (Network Associates) apparently felt the niche wasn't large enough."
CD: Oops, sorry about the spoiler, when I scheduled the post I miscalculated the timing. I know, I'm evil. I promise I won't ruin the next 4 episodes or however many they have left.
Fox is slowly wiping out it's good shows...once The Simpsons go, it's all COPS all the time for that network.
My hiking and skiing and other forms of outdoor recreation doesn't impinge on other people's space but yer fucking loud machines do. Thank god we still have wilderness, so there is some peace and quiet.
Hmmmmm I have seen plenty of walking trails that used to be beautiful grass turned to mud with just 3 or 4 walkers a day
There's no such thing as centrifugal force. The actual scientific term for the force caused by rotating or spinning in a circle is actually 'centripetal force'.
Microsoft charges somebody and they get something in return. If they don't want it, they don't have to pay for it.
This, of course, is where your argument falls down hopelessly.
I *cannot* buy a new desktop PC without buying Windows.
Each time I try to get a bare machine, the dealer has some excuse - With my current desktop, windows was a 'non-refundable' part of the bundle, but even though I said I specifically didn't want it installed, the dealer 'had to load windows' to do hardware testing.
I have been taxed by Microsoft on 4 machines (2x95, 2x98) (despite the last version of windows I used for personal use being windows 3.11 on my old 386 laptop) for junk I didn't want, but still had to pay for.
Then you are not looking hard enough for a dealer. I can go to a few around here( rural PA) and buy parts. They then will offer to build it for me, for cheap, as I just bought a shitload of parts. Surprise, no OS installed.
or if you are really lazy, Wal-Mart sells a no Monitor No OS $399 PC.
I guess I don't understand why the vast majority of the posts I am reading here are long the lines of: "Cool, using technology to nab the bad guys!"
However, I would wager if this were a story about red light cameras catching those who ran red lights, or underpass speed detectors catching speeders and mailing them a ticket, you'd be decrying it as an invasion of privacy or whatnot.
I guess I fail to see the difference, other than in the former case you're not the bad guy and in the latter you might be.
Well,shit, if privacy is the defense, let's open all the jails.....
I have been interested in TiVo for a while now, but I have heard from several people that you have a life, or you have TiVo . Because it records things you might like to see, you spend most of your time trying to watch them. Is this the case for most TiVo owners, or only those with no TV willpower
blah....I doubt it could find anything I like from past experiences...
Granted this is somewhat a different situation, why can't the NZ telcom do the same for bandwith? Is the cost per megabyte so expensive they think they can't feasibly pass it on to users?
Well if they would meter it as accutately as electricity, ie I could look at the meter and adjust my use as needed, it'd be great.
Perhaps the more open-minded/. readers might reflect on the fact that the industrialization of England and America would not have been possible without "Black ivory" (slaves) from Africa who for centuries provided the basic source of wealth of the plantation econonmy
05 As far as I understand legislation in your country, it is part of the constitution that every american citizen is allowed to wear a gun. In my opinion that is one major reason for teenage high-school killings - while claiming games like "Doom" guilty is completely ridiculous. What is your opinion?
Uh if this was a guy ruunning for president, the question makes sense....but to ask some programmer dude.... and besides everything the brats at Columbine did were already illegal.
Slashdot Mirror
Even if they had used Linux it sounds like they need some education on documenting software loaded on machines.
Predatory? Monopolistic? Customer-unfriendly? Microsoft? Say it ain't, Joe . . . and Steve and John and Scott and the rest of the computer tech supervisors at the 24 largest school districts in Oregon and Washington. At the busiest time of the year for those districts, Microsoft is demanding that they conduct an internal software audit to "certify licensing compliance." In a March letter, the software giant gave Portland Public Schools 60 days to inventory its 25,000 computers. "Which," said Scott Robinson, the district's chief technology officer, "is a virtual impossibility." Microsoft is well within its rights to call for an audit. Everyone says so. Everyone has read the contract. But school officials in both states are calling the audits "untimely," "outrageous" and "typical of Microsoft: not very bright." Many also consider the audit requirement a strong-arm tactic to push school districts into Microsoft's costly system-wide licensing agreements. "Given the fact that the letter came from their marketing department, and included a brochure about their school licensing agreement, this didn't seem terribly subtle to any of us," said Steve Carlson, associate superintendent for information and technology for Beaverton schools. "I have a more simplistic view," said John Rowlands, director of information services for the Seattle School District: "They just want to squeeze every nickel out of us they can." For sheer irony, it's hard to beat the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pouring millions of dollars into small, high-tech high schools even as Microsoft is looking for loose change at schools such as Jefferson and Marshall. The school districts are considered guilty of software piracy until they can prove they're in licensing compliance. If the district can't drum up the staff to manage the inventory, Microsoft is willing to show up with its own audit crew, but if a single computer is found with illegal or undocumented software, the district must pay for the audit. "This doesn't recognize any of the complexities of the educational environment," Robinson said. Many of the 25,000 computers in Portland schools were donated and arrive without pedigree or papers. "We're bubblegum and baling wire in terms of what we're putting on the desktops. For us to try to manage every donated desktop that comes in from a business or an individual is ridiculous." Ah, but wait. Microsoft has an offer it thinks you can't refuse, if only to avoid the audit: the vaunted Microsoft School Agreement. Under the terms of this agreement, a school or district simply counts its computers and pays Microsoft somewhere in the neighborhood of $42 per machine for one systemwide annual license. As Rowlands noted, IBM rolled out this idea years ago. Schools liked it because they could add hundreds of computers over the course of the school year and not pay for the additional software licenses until the next computer count. But Microsoft has put a new spin on the agreement, requiring an "institution-wide commitment." That means the district must include in its count not only the PCs, but all the iMacs and Power Macs that might conceivably use Windows software. What would it cost Portland Public Schools, which is already facing a $36 million shortfall, to sign that Microsoft School Agreement? "A rough number? $500,000," Robinson said, "which translates, roughly, into 10 teaching positions." No one at Microsoft -- and I dialed three different offices -- returned phone calls Friday to explain why the "random" audits targeted the nine largest school districts in Oregon and the 15 largest in Washington. Nor was anyone available to explain why Microsoft failed to notify the two groups chartered to represent the schools in licensing negotiations, the Oregon Educational Technology Consortium and the Washington School Information Processing Cooperative. "Everyone has a bad taste about the way this came down," Carlson said. "The audit is heavy handed; its non-participatory. Either they're starting out with the assumption that we're all crooks or they feel they can bludgeon school districts into their marketing agreement. It's clear they're not spending much time talking to the schools they're purporting to be supportive of." Thus, it's not surprising that several schools are asking, along with Robinson in Portland, "whether we want to continue with the Microsoft platform." One of the options is Linux, open-source software schools can run on their desktops free of charge and without a license. Linux is particularly useful on donated computers that aren't worth the $100 Microsoft charges for a software license. Paul Nelson, a teacher at Riverdale, and Eric Harrison with Multnomah ESD have developed a thin-client software called K12LTSP that runs Linux. In the last nine months, they've distributed the software to 5,000 schools. "Schools and government agencies that are paying for Microsoft Office are wasting money," Nelson said. "They should be using free software. A lot of this stuff has become generic. It doesn't take a fancy program to make something bold." R. Thor Prichard, the executive director at the Oregon Educational Technology Consortium, observed, "Microsoft has made it known they're concerned about Linux invading their territory. They're doing a lot of strategy building about eliminating Linux as a threat. Some of the districts they targeted are some of the districts doing initiatives in Linux." Subtle? Artful? Benevolent? Microsoft? That'll be the day
2% is good? Wow.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Phil Zimmermann knows a thing or two about adversity. His invention for encrypting e-mail, Pretty Good Privacy, was so good that the government considered it munitions subject to tough export controls. Prosecutors threatened him with criminal charges when others leaked it overseas. The government ultimately backed off. But now, the company that makes the most popular version of PGP is the one pulling the plug. It's yet another setback, but Zimmermann isn't rattled. "PGP has been around for 10 years and has endured incredible obstacles and hardships," Zimmermann said. "Powerful forces have been arrayed to stop PGP and yet those obstacles were overcome." PGP's future now lies with a handful of voluntary and entrepreneurial efforts that follow Zimmermann's designs. None carry the PGP name, though, as Network Associates Inc. retains trademark rights. "People are very concerned about this development and would like to do something about it," Zimmermann said. "A way will be found." Network Associates, which bought PGP from Zimmermann's PGP Inc. in 1997, sought a buyer last year for its e-mail and file encryption products. The company said it didn't get an attractive offer, so it dropped the products earlier this year. Though some longtime PGP users insist Network Associates could have marketed the product better, others say the demand simply wasn't there. "People aren't spending for encrypted e-mail," said Austin Hill, chief strategy officer at Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. He ought to know. His company dropped plans for PGP as well. Encryption is difficult for average users to grasp, products aren't all that easy to use and the threats of not protecting e-mail from prying eyes aren't all that easy to explain, Hill said. Private as a postcard Internet users won't worry about using regular e-mail for credit card numbers, medical discussions and other sensitive information until they are directly harmed or see a well-publicized breach, security experts say. Only then would they understand or care that using unencrypted e-mail is as private as sending a postcard. Without encryption, network administrators at Internet service providers, employers, intelligence agencies and hackers can snoop on e-mail in transit. [Private as a postcard] Network Associates will fix programming bugs for a year and honor existing service contracts, but it will no longer sell PGP or renew contracts. Though a free version remains available elsewhere, the company won't update it or make it compatible with newer operating systems, like Windows XP. Having Network Associates aside will encourage others -- particularly volunteers -- to increase development efforts, said Yair Frankel, a cryptography consultant in Westfield, New Jersey. "Many people believe that PGP from (Network Associates) was the only thing that existed," said Fabian Rodriguez, associate director of business development at Toxik Technologies Inc., a PGP vendor. "Now that it's not there, it sets the ground level equal for everybody." PGP alternatives include the Gnu Privacy Guard, developed by volunteers under a license that permits anyone to freely use, modify and further distribute the product. Lok Technology Inc. offers Web-based e-mail accounts that use PGP, while Authora Inc. makes PGP work with Outlook e-mail software and any Web-based e-mail system. Toxik handles data sent through online forms. Other encryption methods exist, but none has PGP's popularity. Alternative answers? The alternatives still need work. Authora, for instance, lacks compatibility with non-Microsoft e-mail software such as Eudora and Lotus Notes. Gnu is only a command-line program and needs a graphical interface to be attractive to the vast majority of users. A few interfaces, including Windows Privacy Tray, have been developed but none are as versatile or simple as Network Associates' program. [Alternative answers?] The Gnu project "is the thing that comes close to what PGP from (Network Associates) was, and it's really not there yet," said David Del Torto, executive director of the CryptoRights Foundation, which promotes encryption for human rights workers. Zimmermann, who chairs the OpenPGP Alliance and works with some commercial distributors, thinks any viable alternative will also need extensive marketing. And if the PGP user base is to expand, he said, tools must be easier to use. John Miller, Lok's chief operating officer, described the Network Associates move as "a double-edge sword" for alternatives. "They are leaving a hole in the marketplace, but when you're out there trying to get venture capital, backers and clients, they say, 'If a big company like (Network Associates) couldn't pull it off, what makes you think a smaller company could?"' Miller said. Even if a viable PGP alternative comes along, whether e-mail encryption will ever grow in usage is another matter. PGP developers believe there is growing interest in privacy, given new federal regulations governing financial and medical data. But so far, PGP is limited primarily to niche markets, like human rights and organized crime -- authorities say mob suspect Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr. used it to encode gambling records. "I don't think it's going to die," said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer for Counterpane Internet Security Inc. "It will just be what it is, a niche security product. (Network Associates) apparently felt the niche wasn't large enough."
Fox is slowly wiping out it's good shows...once The Simpsons go, it's all COPS all the time for that network.
Hmmmmm I have seen plenty of walking trails that used to be beautiful grass turned to mud with just 3 or 4 walkers a day
Oh crap is that this week? well hey when you read this in aweek, it was a success!!!!!
Because we're all cheap.
The what is a centrefuge?
Then you are not looking hard enough for a dealer. I can go to a few around here( rural PA) and buy parts. They then will offer to build it for me, for cheap, as I just bought a shitload of parts. Surprise, no OS installed.
or if you are really lazy, Wal-Mart sells a no Monitor No OS $399 PC.
Well,shit, if privacy is the defense, let's open all the jails.....
blah....I doubt it could find anything I like from past experiences...
Well some Republicans in Florida actually bought him a ticket to Canada.
Of course he's denying he ever said he'd leave.
Well if they would meter it as accutately as electricity, ie I could look at the meter and adjust my use as needed, it'd be great.
Huh? The Industrial Revolution never used slaves.
You mean the ones from 2001?
It may replace your car engine's fuel, but it won't reduce plastics. Lot more plastic crap outy there than people realize
How is releasing an API pushing the limits?
Only they would modedrate this as -1,troll. Every one else would moderate it as 5, Insightful!
That makes no sense...as I or you or anyone that moderates that post would thus become a moderator.
Why do you need such high speed going out?
Uh if this was a guy ruunning for president, the question makes sense....but to ask some programmer dude....
and besides everything the brats at Columbine did were already illegal.
I thought it was common knowledge
That "feature" was added cuz too many people were getting duped into clicking on links that said "cnn" but were really goatse.cx
Just curious but where do you get ISA cards so cheaply?
Hot Damn, they do...it's pretty empty tho...