Microsoft isn't out of the news very often. Last week, everyone's favourite software company found itself accused of taking money from children - sort of - to boost its profits.
The Government has said it wants every school connected to the internet this year and has overseen a massive increase in the number of computers for pupils around the country.
However, the increase has also resulted in schools facing big bills for software licenses.
Although the US software giant sells a campus licence to universities and colleges, it does not sell such a licence to schools, which then have to fork out much more money.
The issue has been taken up by Bob Blizzard, Labour MP for Waveney in Suffolk, who asked Ivan Lewis, the education minister, to look into the matter of Microsoft "unfairly hoovering money out of schools".
Mr Blizzard has now spoken to Microsoft. He also submitted figures to the giant which show that in his constituency a college with 500 computers pays £6,900 a year, while a school with 152 computers pays £6,300 and another school with 273 computers pays £11,000. Another school with 396 computers paid £31,700 last year to buy a licence outright.
Unfortunately, Microsoft said it could not yet decide whether to offer the same favourable terms for licence charges to schools that it grants to colleges and universities.
But it said it would feed the matter into the ongoing licensing negotiations with the Department for Education and Skills and would comment on progress next month.
Mr Blizzard said: "I am disappointed that Microsoft hasn't sorted this matter out. I hope it is not playing for time. This is an issue that won't go away. More and more schools will be disadvantaged as they increase the number of computers they use.
"I think Microsoft could afford to give them a better deal."
There is, of course, another option - open source software (OSS). This has already been discussed by the Government as a means of avoiding product lock-ins and lessen reliance on Bill Gates' baby. Mr Blizzard said: "If Microsoft does not agree to let schools choose its best deal soon, I am sure they will want to pursue this 'free' alternative."
Mr Blizzard is more than just a storm in a teacup. More weather news when the forecast becomes clearer.
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