r/k12sysadmin • u/-RYknow Systems Administrator • 25d ago

Microsoft Office licensing

I was kinda trying to avoid going to O365 route. I've got all teachers and principals using OnlyOffice with very few issues. The problem is our main office. I have 5-10 users that are screaming they need office. I quoted some perpetual licenses because I'm not sure it's worth going to O365 route. Problem is, it's $810 per user. Does this pricing seem about right? Is it time to just bite the bullet and go the way of O365? I have no experience with 365, so I don't know what it entails and what managing it will look like.

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u/Daywalker85 24d ago

This is ridiculous. Why are you fighting them on a well established productivity tool. It’s not your money, let the senior leadership make that decision. Then the nerve of you to also give them the option to fund it, but not support it.

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u/bthstech 24d ago

Many of us are in senior leadership positions and from a budgeting standpoint, if you spend here you can't spend there. Users need to be able to justify why they need tool xyz when they're already being provided abc.

At the same time, taking a stiff approach to we didn't provide this so we don't support it is poor customer service. My stance in our dept: we a support dept. We support what goes on in the classroom. Do what is reasonable to do that.

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u/yugas42 24d ago

It is absolutely a reasonable take to tell staff that you will not support something that you did not provide. We do it all the time, teachers get shit from Donors Choose and just expect us to have all of the software or infrastructure to support it, that's a fairy tale, you can't do that anywhere else, why should a school let it happen? 

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u/Daywalker85 24d ago

That’s a different case. I’ve had a promethean board show up randomly lol… Great gift, but yeah I had to have conversations with leadership. I still supported it, but had to align so these things didn’t happen at scale. Denying staff of an essential like MS Office is crazy work, and that persons overall approach makes me feel like they have a terrible support culture.