Bezza49

Hi jmak, Any new agreement is classed as new - i.e. say your 3-year agreement finishes in August 2016, you will have to sign a new one - it will be more expensive in August than in June 2016 due to the price increase on July 1st 2016.

Hi Gibson335, it is confirmed as within that percentage bracket (14-19%). So you are correct - 57% more expensive in three years! We've seen this on Microsoft's projected plans they sent around all resellers at the end of January. We don't know all that much about the Cloud Transition Agreement at this point, other than that is what Microsoft want schools to move onto. All a bit smoke and mirrors on that front currently!

Microsoft putting prices up by 14-19% on OVS/EES on July 1st 2016 And again on July 1st 2017 And again on July 1st 2018 So best thing to do is to sign a 3-year agreement before 1st July 2016 which takes you to mid-2019 with the best possible price. By 2018 Microsoft will be running their Cloud Transition Agreement which is what their ambitions for Education are to get every school onto. If you wait until 2018 you will end up paying a lot more in the meantime. The most cost effective solution is to sign a 3-year agreement before July, and then plan ahead for 2019 changes - by which time everything should be more understood! If anybody needs any further info, I'm happy to help. Craig

Absolutely agree, Matt. Time will indeed tell For the price though, it is not a very costly test and if it works out, can save the school plenty of money on their ICT budget, which is what we all trying to help schools do at the end of the day.

Colin, well the bashing the comp bit was in jest, I think you missed that! I am not trying to promote myself - my posts don't do that. I like to offer balanced views on products for the Education community. You can now buy the Linx at other places too, not just Insight, and I'd expect they will do based on who their favoured suppliers are. Customers are buying them not because we are "pushing these like crazy". They are low value and suit a purpose. That purpose being, in most cases, primary and secondary school devices for students to play with. Staff devices for basic requirements like taking registers etc. The majority of issues have been with the case/keyboard which is admittedly a bit flimsy, but we just send them a new case/keyboard in these instances. Issues beyond that are your usual DOA, but I'd say the % of failures has been nothing more than a standard tablet. I should have clarified on that point originally.

You should never bash the competition, VeryPC Colin Plenty of our customers have bought the Linx and love it for what it does. Yes it is cheap, at £141.66 for the Pro Bundle, so you can expect a few failures. It is not a Surface tablet. But in terms of Value for Money - excellent device. And I'd say feedback from our customers has been around 95% positive, which is pretty good. I have no agenda as we sell all manner of alternatives, but in the interests of fairness I think it needed pointing out.

I believe the majority of resellers have the Linx10 PRO available to purchase, but only Insight have the PRO Bundle which includes the keyboard and case for the same price as the other resellers are selling the tablet only, circa £140 + VAT

I did it the other way round. Hired a Mustang and drove from Vegas to LA. The trip across the desert to LA from Vegas was the best thing ever. We went from Vegas first to the Hoover Dam and had a look around there, and then drove from there to LA. Only takes about 3 hours to Pomona which was where we were staying (with family). In LA, the outskirts have great treats. Mount Baldy is great to drive up, there is a great bar near the top! Laguna Beach, Huntingdon Beach are great in LA. Universal Studios is a must if you like that kind of thing. LA itself though is a typical big American city. Hollywood isn't very nice, you can see the sign from the Freeway, stick to that I say!!

Love "The Last of Us". Just completed it on Saturday, took a while and didn't pick up GTA V until I had done so!

Well I was hoping that this would give me a reason to switch to Microsoft...but it is had the opposite effect. Quite what MS have been thinking is beyond me. Initial info about the PS4 is impressive, this is just a waste of time and space. Yes, some good games, but they are all new versions of the old classics. Nothing original there. They are trying to get people more enveloped in the XBOX experience by turning it into a complete "media hub" - but only a small percentage of people want that. We want to play GAMES. ONLINE and OFFLINE. I'd like both options please. And I'd like to buy games that are a bit older, pre-owned maybe...but no, MS won't be allowing that without an additional charge. A "reinstatement fee" if you will. Looking forward to the PS4 launch. For me, this could a watershed for Microsoft - Sony could gain heaps of market share here and Microsoft will struggle to recover.

Good move in my opinion, and brings the Microsoft IT Academy accreditations to the fore, they are going to be critical in the coming years and really make the difference between candidates and schools who have or haven't got the accreditation.

Terrible decision. The iron was my favourite piece!!! I'll never win again! Also, a cat? Really? We already have a dog in there!! It will be a rabbit next!!

An ex-Insight employee has moved to Comparex and taken with him a lot of customer data with which they have been using to entice customers to move to Comparex. They are using three-year "UTD" pricing (google it!) which allows a large discount for NEW AGREEMENTS ONLY - signing up to the OVS-ES. If you are already on OVS-ES (or EES) then you do not qualify. It is for if you were moving from Select+ for example. Comparex are putting renewals through as new agreements, which is invalid and Microsoft are aware of this. Also, the discount is quite substantial and they are only passing a fraction of this onto the customer - so, all round, very underhand sales tactics. Speak with your usual reseller account manager if you are approached by Comparex.

In my opinion, the future is Android, especially in schools. There is a new tool called “Learnpad” which Toshiba especially are pushing heavily. It is App Management Software and really gives those in charge control over what the students are doing. Takes about an hour to setup and then only needs tweaking every now and then. Extraordinarily simple, and the devices are really good – such as Galaxy Tab and the AT300. Compared to the iPads, apart from being a bit less sexy looking, they are just as good, if not better. LearnPad - The Tablet Computer Designed for Education

If anybody would like a game of FIFA13 or COD:MW3 or Black Ops when I get round to buying it, my ID is pnepnepne Best game series is Assassins Creed in my opinion, I love that game.