Interesting. So that's the model that Apple turned to when they (just) revamped their education site license.
http://www.apple.com/education/licensingprogram/
Unlike the commercial versions, there is no upgrade price for FCS education version.
Typically the last two versions of the education FCS will amount to the same as one version retail and one upgrade. In essence, no discount at all.
The new ed site agreement requires a yearly fee that would cover any new versions. The problem is most schools do not have an on-going budget to maintain computers and software. Or anything else for that matter.
Each year, media teachers need and hope to get funding. So you'll have labs all over the country with expired license agreements. And this includes the basic OS with Ilife too.
So Apple anticipates this by adding that when you renew the next year, it will be backdated to when the last yearly period expired. I wonder if they will try to crack down on expired licenses?
I think they are shooting themselves in the foot with all this. Some admins and funding sources will simply tell media teachers to use window-based systems.
Or Apple may be being very smart and forcing educational institutions to start budgeting like the real world and plan for a yearly investment. This will mean that Apple will control the versions installed at educational institutions and since they will all be on the same OS and FCP versions, it will be easier for apple to trouble shoot and maintain their user base. Maybe they are hoping the funding sources will not balk since labs already have Apple computers in place and trained teachers as well. Time will tell.
The alternative is to buy individual Ed versions of the software (for more per seat) and upgrade when you find funding for it. In large labs this gets very costly.
OSX 10.5.7; MAC Book PRO (EARLY 2008); Camcorders: Sony Z7U, Canon HV30, Sony vx2000/PD170, Canon xl2; Pana, Sony, and Canon consumer cams; FCP certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
