Microsoft’s proposed $1 billion (pound;670m) technology giveaway to needy US schools was rejected last week after a court ruled that the deal could hand the software giant a competitive advantage in the education market.
Judge J Frederick Motz said the donation, suggested by Bill Gates’ corporation to resolve scores of lawsuits accusing it of overcharging customers, “appears to provide a means for flooding a part of the kindergarten-through-high-school market with Microsoft software and refurbished PCs”.
Motz said the settlement, under which Microsoft offered 14,000 of the US’s poorest schools $1bn worth of its software, plus reconditioned computers and other services, “could be viewed as court-approved predatory pricing”.
Motz said Microsoft’s settlement contained insufficient cash for training and support to enable schools to put the computers to proper use.
He estimated the deal provided $1 of support for every $3 in new technology when schools typically need the reverse, experts told the court.
Stephen Phillips Full story: www.tes.co.uk
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