Microsoft referred to Office of Fair Trading
Hot on the heels of the EU fine, It would appear Microsoft are now facing pressure in the UK from Becta. The issues of the EU decision were complex, and arguably the act of forcing Microsoft to hand over its Intellectual property to competitors is highly questionable. It's interesting that Apple could equally be challenged on similar grounds for its iTunes/iPod ecosystem!
Becta's referral relates to a different issue. School's in the UK choosing subscription licensing (rather than pay for the one-off perpetual license) currently have to pay Microsoft even for those computers that cannot run the software. This is due to Microsoft's 'eligible PC' concept used to calculate the fees. In addition, schools who decide to buy themselves out face high charges to do convert back to a perpetual license.
Then there is the issue of interoperability between Microsoft Office 2007 and 'free' software such as Open Office. Effectively this means that Microsoft does not support the Open Document Format. There are now numerous free Office packages available that offer similar functionality to Office.
In my opinion, Microsoft subscription licensing concerns are legitimate, and due consideration of the issues by an external body is a good idea. This should not cloud the issue of compatibility with Open Office, or the price schools pay for the perpetual MS Office. Open Office, the free alternative can read Office files (in the main), and there are lots of alternative free products that read Open Document Formats. In value for money terms though Microsoft Office remains a great deal for schools for perpetual licenses. This then is a no-brainer. If you want a free Office package then go get one. I have tried most of them, and still opt for Office!
Perversely, Becta may be acting a little mischeviously, as I can't find any 'Open Document Format' documents on their website provided in this "internationally approved" file format. If you can find one on their website, post the link. As far as I can see they all seem to come in two universal international de facto formats, ... PDF and Word! In fact this seems to cross both National & Local Government sites. Umm...
Microsoft Education have responded on their blog.