Submission + - Microsoft charity crackdown spurs Aussie boycott (computerworld.com.au) 1
mask.of.sanity writes: Thousands of Aussie charities are set to dump Microsoft and look to open source after it imposed a new means-tested charity licence which is set to lead to some $50 million in price hikes.
The Redmond giant is pressing ahead with new global software licensing agreements, some imposing a whopping 500 percent price increase, to stamp-out what it initially claimed were illegal uses of its discounted offerings by not-for-profit agencies.
Australian aged care and charity organisations have sworn to dump the vendor if it enforces the policy change and are prepared to tear out established Microsoft infrastructure to implement open source alternatives.
They argue the price hike will eat into revenue generated by taxpayers and donations for charitable activities like homeless shelters and free healthcare services.
The new licence, Charity Open, was introduce world-wide late last year but it's news to many charities who haven't heard a word from the software giant.
The Redmond giant is pressing ahead with new global software licensing agreements, some imposing a whopping 500 percent price increase, to stamp-out what it initially claimed were illegal uses of its discounted offerings by not-for-profit agencies.
Australian aged care and charity organisations have sworn to dump the vendor if it enforces the policy change and are prepared to tear out established Microsoft infrastructure to implement open source alternatives.
They argue the price hike will eat into revenue generated by taxpayers and donations for charitable activities like homeless shelters and free healthcare services.
The new licence, Charity Open, was introduce world-wide late last year but it's news to many charities who haven't heard a word from the software giant.