DEC isn’t going to let IBM and Apple make all the running in US schools, and has announced The Education Initiative, describing it as a comprehensive programme to make computer technology more widely accessible and affordable for schools and colleges: the programme kicks off with three offerings – the Campuswide Software Licence Grant Programme, giving free licences to virtually all DEC’s non-royalty VAX software; an expansion of the Education Software Library distribution and support programme that makes software more available and affordable to campus users, so that it now covers all VAX computer systems rather than just workstations, and reduces the cost of maintaining software; and the Campus Service Agreement, which offers a hardware self maintenance plan that enables educational institutions to reduce the cost of service while still getting essential support from DEC.
