Apple Introduces New Educational Software Licensing Program for Institutions

[MacRumors]

MacNN notes that Apple has recently revised its educational software licensing offerings for institutions, introducing a new Apple Education Licensing Program organized around annual licensing rather than software update cycles.

The new Apple Education Licensing Program makes it easier to keep your institution's Apple software current and compliant. Coverage is purchased annually, keeping costs consistent year after year, and the new bundle structure allows you to manage against a single expiration date. Each license renewal provides one year of coverage, including any new releases that become available during the year.

Furthermore, Apple is now bundling its operating system offering with iLife and iWork into a single package to encourage adoption of its media and productivity tools. Pricing for the basic "Mac Software Collection" bundle of the three basic software products begins at US$899 per year for 25 seats, or $35.96 for each machine. Various additional levels are also available for larger purchases, topping out at $199,999 package covering institutions with 10,000 machines for a cost of $20 per machine if all licenses are used. Apple also requires that 100% of an institution's "installed base" of Macs be covered when participating in the program.

Apple offers annual volume licensing on a number of other software offerings under the program, including such professional applications as Aperture, Final Cut, and Logic, as well as IT-focused software. These specialized software offerings beyond the basic Mac Software Collection do not generally require 100% coverage, except for professional applications being purchased at the departmental level of higher education institutions.

The program also typically requires an enrollment fee equal to 10% of the annual purchase price, although the fee is being waived through December 13th for new customers and existing customers converting from previous software licensing programs. Additional details on the Apple Education Licensing Program are available in Apple's FAQ.

Article Link: Apple Introduces New Educational Software Licensing Program for Institutions

 

[intel]

Bring back the days when every classroom had a mac. At least that's how it was for me for every grade in elementary school. Things changed in 95 for obvious (microsoft) reasons.

 

[The Samurai]

Nice - will encourage universities to adopt Apple systems as they are now being recognised more widely by students and this news shouldn't deter them.

 

[haravikk]

Damn, if I had 10,000 Macs then this would be quite the deal, I think I'll have to stick with family packs for now though

 

[rdowns]

Damn, if I had 10,000 Macs then this would be quite the deal, I think I'll have to stick with family packs for now though

You could always buy more Macs.


Good for Apple. They need to do something to regain the share of the education market they let slip away.

 

[elmancho]

Doesn't beat MSDN if you ask me ... I'm still dwelling on my brand new copy of Win7

 

[spillproof]

Seems like a good deal. My university is still running Microsoft XP (w/ classic mode) and Mac OS 10.5.5.

My elementary school was Windows 98

 

[JamesWvr]

This is great My university has always offered OS X updates for free and now it sounds like we'll get iLife and iWork with it

We still do not have Snow Leopard available, so I wonder if this software licensing change had something to do with the long wait time for us (it only took about 2 weeks for us to have Leopard available after its release date).

 

[Doctor Q]

I'm not sure when they switched but I think it was earlier this month. I noticed the change when I shopped for the cost to upgrade our computer classroom to Snow Leopard. We can't afford to upgrade every Mac on campus.

 

[iSamurai]

...so in other words what does this mean?

Currently every other computer in the UQ libraries is either Dell or HP. Maybe they're cheaper, and I think that's the reason to get unis buying them. So I don't think making new software packages will be too attractive (even if it may be more value for money, cheaper licensing etc), but rather the initial start up cost for purchasing machines would be the deciding factor. Also even though at my uni there are considerably more people using Macs (we've even got a mac store on campus) than the general population, a lot of people, aka the average Joe, are used to Windoze unfortunately, because at the end of the day ppl just need to write a thesis and print them out. lol. don't get me wrong - I use a mac

My uni below. Took these pics a while ago:

 

[RHollister]

As much as I am a fan of apple, the iWork just does not stack up well against Office.

iLife is awesome though!

 

[RMo]

Seems like a good deal. My university is still running Microsoft XP (w/ classic mode) and Mac OS 10.5.5.

My elementary school was Windows 98

Spoiled, I tell you! My elementary school used MS-DOS 4.0 on IBM PS/2s, and I say "on" loosely, since they didn't have hard drives--you had to get the boot floppy from the teacher. Let me tell you, the ones with dual floppy drives really had you spoiled, since you could load DOS and whatever simple word processor we used without having to switch floppies!

By the time I was almost out of elementary school, we inherited a donated Windows 95 machine, but as I recall, nobody was really sure what to do with it (but I'm sure they could have floppy-booted it into DOS!).

 

[miknos]

As much as I am a fan of apple, the iWork just does not stack up well against Office.

iLife is awesome though!

I just wished Office 2008 where more fast, specially to open a document. A typical poorly optimized app.

 

[fluidedge]

Sys admins will be rolling their eyes at this one. Windows Vista Enterprise is a damn solid system and the server software "just works".

Some chirpy departmental academic will push it through though meaning months of headaches as they adapt to Mac OS X server and XSan etc

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Apple also requires that 100% of an institution's "installed base" of Macs be covered when participating in the program.

Well, that means my local school K12 district won't be taking advantage of it. The vast majority of their Macs are old G3 iMacs, with a few G4 iMacs sprinkled in, plus the occasional Intel iMac lab here and there.

I wonder if they can exclude machines that aren't even capable of taking advantage of it when calculating cost?

 

[Bubba Satori]

Bring back the days when every classroom had a mac. At least that's how it was for me for every grade in elementary school. Things changed in 95 for obvious (microsoft) reasons.

Can they afford them ? I keed, I keed.

I just wished Office 2008 where more fast, specially to open a document.

They should skip the computers for basic spelling and grammar books. Cheaper and they don't crash

 

[MattInOz]

Note to Apple,
slap a 30% markup on this and sell it to non-educational institutions.

Thanks

 

[ihadmeavision]

Do I have to cover 100 percent of my school’s installed base with all of the applications?

No. While we require that you cover 100 percent of your installed base when ordering the Mac Software Collection, the other software applications are different. If you are a K-12 customer, you may license any of the other software applications on an as-needed basis. Higher Education customers purchasing our professional applications by department must cover 100 percent of the instructional installed base of that department. IT products can be licensed as needed in Higher Education and K-12.

Can anyone decipher what this means? I'm in a higher education institution. I have 25 copies of Final Cut Pro Studio as is but I have 100 Macs total. I use Sassafras keyserver to make sure only 25 copies run at any time. Does this mean I now need to purchase 100 licenses of FCPS?

 

[Pikemann Urge]

If I were running a country's education department I'd try to get as much open source software as possible mandated into the system. But of course there is something quite special seeing a room full of Macs, e.g. iSamurai's uni.

 

[twoodcc]

sounds nice. i wish my school had more macs when i was in college and even high school. in fact, i dont think there was a single mac at my high school

 

[dodge this]

This news was leaked to many of us educators last week when our Apple Reps were notified. Needless to say there was much wailing and gloom all around the list serves I am on.

And I don't blame them.

This concept of paying yearly for software assumes quite a bit. For example, it assumes that all schools actually budget for software year after year. For many, that is not the case. Under the old system, a teacher may win a contest or write a grant and is able to get a volume license of Final Cut Studio, lets say. Then that school would "own" the software. Now schools become software renters. When that fee comes due, there is NO guarantee that the money will be there to renew. When the grant is gone, the money is gone. Many can't 'renew' every year because many don't have a budget.

Or if they get money after the software license expires, the school has to pay not only for the next year, but also a penalty fee. When schools are strapped for cash and budgets are in flux year after year, that makes Apple software less attractive in the long run.


Then there are districts out there that just won't 'rent' software at all. They want to own the software all out.

Yes, the cost may be "lower", but is it really worth it?

Additionally, most Apple reps barely know their butts from a hole in the ground... I know. I tend to know more about upcoming software and hardware releases from Apple because of this site than they do. So many teacher's and school IT questions are going unanswered. They have no idea what really will happen if a school doesn't renew, nor do they know how licensing will work for school labs that don't have internet access. Will this program be a fun Windows Activation experience or something like that? Nobody seems to really know.

I don't see why there are so many positives ratings for this story. I doubt they are coming from a lot of educators who actually have to deal with this issue that was pulled out of Apple's butt with little warning and almost no planning or information for the customers.

 

[haze]

Can anyone decipher what this means? I'm in a higher education institution. I have 25 copies of Final Cut Pro Studio as is but I have 100 Macs total. I use Sassafras keyserver to make sure only 25 copies run at any time. Does this mean I now need to purchase 100 licenses of FCPS?

For total install base that only refers to the Mac software collection (OS X, iLife, iWork) and not the Pro Apps.

 

[haze]

Well, that means my local school K12 district won't be taking advantage of it. The vast majority of their Macs are old G3 iMacs, with a few G4 iMacs sprinkled in, plus the occasional Intel iMac lab here and there.

I wonder if they can exclude machines that aren't even capable of taking advantage of it when calculating cost?

It only counts for machines 4 years old or newer.

 

[juanster]

I don't think this is a good thing. Unless I am not understanding properly. So if my uni has 5000 mac pros. And they only want to upgrade to SL on 1000 then they can't do it? Or is this just an optional thing and the old way when you pay for something and you own it still counts?

 

[windywoo]

Since my college was a member of the Microsoft Academic alliance I was able to get all versions of Vista, all versions of XP, all versions of Server 2003 and Server 2008, Expression Studio, Visual Studio, DOS and many more MS products for the grand price of 0.

Until Apple can offer something like that for students then I don't see them as being an attractive option to any but the elitist wealthier students.