Becta, the British Educational and Communications and
Technology Agency, has taken its gripes against Microsoft’s allegedly
“anti-competitive” licensing policies for schools and the “interoperability
impediments” in Office 2007 to the European Commission, as a contribution to
the new antitrust investigation of Microsoft and its OOXML file formats – among
other things – that the EC opened in January.
Becta objects to Microsoft’s native support for its own
OOXML format in Office and its lack of equivalent support for the rival
OpenDocument Format (ODF). The agency claims that having to download converters
to interoperate creates a barrier to adopting ODF by non-technical users.
It says that, even if the user succeeds in installing the
converters, the outcome would be “unsatisfactory” because of their “limited
functionality” and poor integration into Microsoft’s user interface and so form
a further barrier to competition.
Before complaining to the EC, Becta asked the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT), UK’s
competition regulator, last October to investigate Microsoft and tried
negotiating with Microsoft.
Becta claims that Microsoft’s lack of interoperability
limits choice, which results in higher prices for education and a “range of
other unsatisfactory effects” that “have a negative impact on wider policy
initiatives,” like “improving education outcomes, facilitating home school
links and addressing the digital divide.”
It wants the OFT to review the barriers to using other
application software or interfacing with Windows and remedy them.
Apparently the OFT is considering what to do about
Microsoft’s School Agreement licensing model.
Becta has advised schools not to sign Microsoft’s School
Agreement for Office 2007 – or to save any documents in OOXML – and to use a
three-year Academic Select license instead; if they have signed a School
Agreement it suggests they “consider their renewal and their buyout options.”
Becta argued against Britain supporting OOXML as an ISO
standard, preferring the existing ODF standard instead.
About Maureen O'Gara Maureen O'Gara is the Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.
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Becta, the British Educational and Communications and
Technology Agency, has taken its gripes against Microsoft’s allegedly
“anti-competitive” licensing policies for schools and the “interoperability
impediments” in Office 2007 to the European Commission, as a contribution to
the new antitrust investigation of Microsoft and its OOXML file formats – among
other things – that the EC opened in January. 
