Author: Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes “A big story in Massachusetts this week was the announcement by Microsoft that it would give $30 million in software to Bay State high schools and universities. That’s surprising. After all, why would Microsoft reward Massachusetts for taking no action to curtail an IT policy that favored ODF and rejected Microsoft’s own XML format, especially after Microsoft has by all accounts lobbied so aggressively to bring about a change? One reason (among others) is that there’s a lot of campaigning to be done by state house and senate representatives and their challengers over the next few months. All of those candidates would presumably love to have the support of local teachers and their union. What can you do with $30 million in a small state like Massachusetts? That’s $800 worth of software per high school student, all delivered without the expenditure of a single dollar of local property taxes, and $2,400 per state university student, all without a dime of state funds. Stay tuned…”
