Upon its expiration July 31, the Division of Information Technology will not renew its contract with Microsoft, forcing thousands of students who purchased Microsoft products through the Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog to terminate use.
DoIt officials concluded that Microsoft's rising prices and unpredictable leasing plan would not benefit the large amount of students and faculty users, UW-Madison licensing specialist Colleen Apelgren said.
\Microsoft's approach to software licensing is now more of a leasing plan, basically paying rent on the software, and we just can't afford to do that. Whether it's for departments or for students, it's just too expensive,"" said Brian Rust, communications manager at DoIT.
Any student who has purchased Microsoft products through the WISC sales program, either ordered through the Web site or at the DoIT Tech Store, are under the terms of this contract, Rust said.
""Students who are continuing to attend next fall at this point would need to remove the software from their machines unless we can get another agreement worked out with Microsoft to extend the use,"" Rust said.
Officials plan to contact all active Microsoft users, over 11,000 students as projected by the DoIT Web site. Students will be ordered to terminate use but also given alternative options to pursue new service.
Ironically, the licensing agreement only pertains to those student users returning after the late July expiration-not students who acquired the software and no longer have any affiliation with UW-Madison.
""Students that leave the university by the end of this current semester can use the software indefinitely,"" Rust said.
In the past, DoIT has provided significantly reduced prices on Microsoft products, with differences of hundreds of dollars, through the three-year contract.
""For the last couple years, the university has included students in the contract so that the students have been able to buy [Microsoft] Office for a really low price,"" said Bruce Orchard, an information processor and consultant at UW-Madison.
While academic prices remain lower than that of retailers and mail order companies, officials warn of inevitable rising prices as a result of the termination.
""For students buying new copies of software from Microsoft, it's going to cost them quite a bit more,"" Rust said.
However, officials are working to ensure students several beneficial options at reduced prices.
""We're still negotiating with Microsoft to enable the students to continue to run the software on their machines for some nominal charge,"" Rust said.
DoIT technicians are working to license a product that students can acquire and use fairly cheaply that will provide the basic needs in terms of productivity, Rust said.
""We're licensing a product called Star Office. It's going to be a much less expensive alternative to Microsoft Office and related products,"" Rust said.
