[K12OSN] Argument against Microsoft?

[Bill Kendrick <nbs sonic net>]

At a recent LUG meeting, a fellow who's been entrenched in the Microsoft
world for a long time (and Novell prior to that) and who is starting to
get into the Linux realm, mentioned that he met with a school district
'honcho' recently over lunch.

The district guy told him that, while Open Source stuff sounds attractive,
in the end, he's really only paying something like $30 per license for
Microsoft Office, for example, and that because there are different
'colors' of money (e.g., say a Gates Foundation grant), that if he didn't
spend the money on MS software, the money wouldn't be available in the first
place, so to him, it's really not worth switching.

First off, is this kind of mess widespread?  (e.g., being stuck with MS or
other vendors in this way)  And more importantly, how can we argue FOR
Open Source in a situation like this?


Sorry if this doesn't make the most sense, it's pretty late (3am), this
LUG meeting took place a few days ago, and I was really just listening in
on a conversation before the meeting, while I was setting things up. :^)

Thx for any advice!

-bill!