UK government agency BECTA said that it has made progress persuading Microsoft to change its stance on interoperability and software licensing.

Schools which opt in to the pilot licensing programme can choose to stop paying Microsoft a licence for Apples or Linux computers, and those using Open Office won't have to pay a fee either. Schools will also be able to decline to license Vista on PCs that can't run it. The licensing programme will allow schools to pay on number of users, rather than the number of PCs.

The quango said that Microsoft has committed to building in support for the open document format (ODF) and this well help colleges and schools to use a wider range of software.

The software giant has also reviewed its terms and conditions on school licensing. It will shortly introduce a programme for schools, starting with a pilot. BECTA had complained to the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in 2007. A Microsoft executive, Michel Van der Bel, said that interoperability problems was an important element in its complaint to the OFT. Building in ODF support will help resolve some of those problems, he said. X