As books and CDs disappear from shelves in exchange for e-books and MP3 files, Microsoft is floating its content to a cloud service.
And Ohio University has agreed to sell it.
When OU’s contract expired with Microsoft Office, it agreed to sell Microsoft’s new software — Office 365 University.
The new software offers the same services as the previous Microsoft program network, but instead of purchasing a disc, consumers buy a product code they enter into their computer, said Kim McClain, manager of customer resources for Tech Depot.
All of the data will be hosted in Microsoft’s “cloud,” SkyDrive.
OU updates its contract annually with Microsoft on July 1, which happened to occur at the same time Microsoft began converting its programs to SkyDrive, McClain said.
“More and more companies are moving to the cloud as a way to distribute software,” McClain said.
OU’s contract with Microsoft costs $184,011 for this school year, a decrease from last year’s contract cost of $190,026.43, said Office of Information Technology Communications Manager Sean O’Malley.
“Some people like to have a physical sense of media, but more and more computers are coming without that CD drive now,” McClain said.
Under the old software, users were able to keep their hard CD copy of the software forever, McClain said.
Office 365 University expires after four years, but users still can access—but not edit or add—their documents from the program.
The upgrade contract also came with a price increase for students, increasing from $70 to $76 based on the number of OU students, calculated by Microsoft, O’Malley said.
“I think people are just used to prices going up on everything,” O’Malley said.
Although Candace Lamb, a freshman studying middle childhood education, did not buy Office 365 University from OU, she said she would consider purchasing software with a cloud option after her good experiences with the iPhone’s iCloud.
“I had got a new iPhone, and it was really just awesome hooking it back to my computer and getting it all on back on there,” Lamb said. “It’s super easy.”
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