CERN turns to open source software as Microsoft increases its fees

[maflynn]

Bad news for MS, both tactically and strategically. This is imo, the ugly side of subscriptions. At some point the customer, i.e., us, gets tired of paying subscription fees. In leveraging their size and stature, CERN is opening the eyes of others as they choose not to pay high licensing fees and this must have MS a bit nervous.

CERN turns to open source software as Microsoft increases its fees

For the last 20 years, CERN -- home of the Large Hadron Collider -- has been using Microsoft products under a discounted "academic institution" rate. But in March, at the end of its previous contract, Microsoft revoked CERN's academic status. According to a CERN blog post, under the new contract, licensing costs have increased more than tenfold. In response, CERN is pulling back the curtain on a now year-old project to migrate to open source software, and it's calling it the Microsoft Alternatives project, or MAlt.

 

[NT1440]

I’d love to see the rationale MS had for revoking CERN’s academic status.

What a load of ********.

 

[AidenShaw]

I’d love to see the rationale MS had for revoking CERN’s academic status.

What a load of ********.

Do you have a degree from the University of CERN?

 

[NT1440]

Do you have a degree from the University of CERN?

No, but CERN certainly carries out the mission of discovery that Academia was all about before the neoliberals turned into a business...

 

[AidenShaw]

No, but CERN certainly carries out the mission of discovery that Academia was all about before the neoliberals turned into a business...

I can't see how one can put government funded research institutes into the "academia" bucket.

 

[cube]

CERN should charge Microsoft a WWW license.

 

[NT1440]

I can't see how one can put government funded research institutes into the "academia" bucket.

It’s Microsoft’s call. Frankly I think they’re making a bad PR move (surely there’s some other type of non-budget busting deal they could have made), but it’s their software at the end of the day.

 

[maflynn]

MS had for revoking CERN’s academic status.

greed, pure and simple.

 

[AlliePallie]

I can't see how one can put government funded research institutes into the "academia" bucket.

Well, almost all academic research, in science, IS government funded.

 

[cube]

Does this mean private universities are not academic anymore either?

 

[AidenShaw]

Well, almost all academic research, in science, IS government funded.

Does this mean private universities are not academic anymore either?

Are Lawrence-Livermore, Oak Ridge, JPL, SLAC, Sandia, Los Alamos and other FFRDCs academic institutions?

If you're a student or faculty member at Stanford, you merit an education discount.

If you're staff at SLAC, you're a government employee - no discount.

 

[cube]

Are Lawrence-Livermore, Oak Ridge, JPL, SLAC, Sandia, Los Alamos and other FFRDCs academic institutions?

If you're a student or faculty member at Stanford, you merit an education discount.

If you're staff at SLAC, you're a government employee - no discount.

I thought this was about a discount for the institutions themselves.

 

[AidenShaw]

I thought this was about a discount for the institutions themselves.

CERN is not an "academic institution", it's a billion-dollar-plus per year government funded research consortium. Nobody has a "degree from CERN".

The annual Microsoft contract was probably much less than the electric bill for one day of running the collider.

 

[cube]

CERN is not an "academic institution", it's a billion-dollar-plus per year government funded research consortium. Nobody has a "degree from CERN".

They will not give you a degree but you can carry your PhD or postdoc at CERN.

 

[AidenShaw]

They will not give you a degree but you can carry your PhD or postdoc at CERN.

Not really.

For example, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one member of the CERN consortium. If you're a doctoral (or post-doc) candidate (probably in physics) at UW-Madison you might do much of your PhD work with CERN.

You might do it from Meyrin, or from Madison, or more likely mostly from Madison with some visits to Meyrin.

Your degree will be from UW-Madison, not CERN.

And, if you're a UW student - UW's Microsoft academic license contract will cover you.

 

[cube]

Your degree will be from UW-Madison, not CERN.

That's what I meant.

It is not fair that for-profit universities get a discount and non-profit research centers do not.

 

[S.B.G]

Huh, I was a little surprised to learn CERN was using any MS software. I wonder in what context they were using MS products? Was it Windows, Office/365 or what?

I would have imagined they would be using Red Hat or some type of FOSS already.

Perhaps they were using a mix of MS and FOSS depending on the need and application of use.

Either way, subscriptions suck. I say that because so many companies are turning to this model and one feels nickle and dimed to death.

Anyway, this reminds me of this video of what I call a Linux/minimalist extremist guy had made, which also made me laugh a bit too.

"Adobe Reader is Literally Hitler" He goes off on Adobe, it's business model and subscriptions. It's a heck of rant, but it made me laugh.

 

[cube]

Either way, subscriptions suck.

What subscription? It is not Adobe.

 

[decafjava]

What subscription? It is not Adobe.

No it was MS...

It does seem to be a bit of a semantic issue as to what constitutes "academic" - however perhaps there should be a distinction between non-profit and business subscription models. Then again, so many government agencies waste a lot of man and are gouged by contractors.

Either way, a good move by CERN.