http://www.purbeck.gov.uk/news/latest_news/council_decisions_summary.aspx
Decisions taken at Council - December 2009
Information Technology – Network and Desktop Infrastructure Refresh
* Council approved the procurement of services, hardware and software systems to refresh and upgrade the Council’s computer network at an estimated cost of £90,000.
* Council gave the go-ahead to purchase hardware and software to upgrade desktop systems at an estimated cost of £45,000.
The total cost of £135,000 is to be funded from capital resources.
* Funding, at an estimated revenue cost of £25,000 pa over 3 years, was approved to take up a licensing agreement with Microsoft to ensure the Council’s core software and operating systems (eg Windows 7, XP etc) are kept up to date.
I would suggest that putting £25K is an under-estimation, helped by the fact that they quote "* Council gave the go-ahead to purchase hardware and software to upgrade desktop systems at an estimated cost of £45,000."
WHY, OH WHY do we keep giving Microsoft our hard earned Tax Pounds?
Why don't we get in touch with one of the more progressive Linux distributions and get them to provide our software - FOR FREE.
More and more Countries are waking up to the ridiculous amount of money that Microsoft 'earn' from you and I.
Why aren't we?
Thursday, January 07, 2010
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6 comments:
If that's all County were spending I wouldn't have worried - that's Purbeck.
That's why I'm worried.
Linux always looks inviting as it is free but it is not as simple as that. Although you can download Linux for nothing support packages are not free. Openoffice which is touted as an alternative to MS Office would be needed as well and there would be training costs in switching staff to the new system. New staff can reasonably be expected to have some familiarity with Office as schools have used to for years.
What does surprise me is that the government does not negotiate an agreement with MS for the whole public sector rather than leave schools, councils etc to get the best deal they can. In fact the price they pay now per computer for OS and Office is not particularly high compared with the retail price but it could be brought down.
Does anyone have any facts and figures on large organisations that have taken the Linux route? I can't say I have seen any reports of large savings.
Vietnam, South Korea, a couple of S American countries, French Police - who estimate that they've saved 50million Euros.
Training costs are a bit of a red herring as an upgrade to Windows7 or an Office upgrade require training.
Here's a partial list of agencies using Linux.
http://www.linux.org/info/linux_govt.html
http://markhobley.yi.org:9070/BigNames
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption
Here's a couple more - and if I remember correctly doesn't this here IdiotWeb thingy run on Linux?
France joins Germany warning against Internet Explorer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8465038.stm
Yet we keep on using the trash.
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