Re: [Fsfe-uk] Microsoft, Sun & NHS

[Alex Hudson]

On Sun, 2003-12-07 at 10:15, Tom Coady wrote:
> At least there is a glimmer of hope here, not that I'd put money on though:
> http://www.silicon.com/hardware/desktops/0,39024645,39117233,00.htm
> Sounds suspiciously like an opening salvo for negotiation. Becta might 
> learn from this strategy, and might learn more about FLOSS in the process.

This has happened a couple of times now, although the JDS offering is a
lot stronger than previous systems people might have considered
(although sadly not wholly free).

The last deal was signed October 2001, so it's probably due to end
October 2004. However, the costs are pretty interesting. From
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/cm030709/text/30709w21.htm:

        Norman Lamb:   To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much
        has been paid to Microsoft in licensing fees by the NHS in each
        of the past three years. [121508]
        
        Mr. Hutton  [holding answer 24 June 2003]: A central licensing
        agreement was negotiated with Microsoft for the majority of
        software products with effect from 4 October 2001.
        
        Figures for licensing fees prior to that date, or for software
        outside the agreement, are not available centrally.
        
        Payments for software licences covered by the central licensing
        agreement are as follows:
        
                2000–01 (figures not available)
                2001–02 £16.9 million from October 2001
                2002–03 £62.3 million

We've seen other ministers (Boateng?) have similar difficulty relating
the cost of software licensing, they just have had very little idea of
how much they were spending. With these centralised agreements, we're
beginning to see the costs. £60M per year is an awful lot of money, and
I assume that the cost is purely the software licence (that they haven't
built in all the other money spent on IT, or related expenditure). If
they moved to JDS they would find the costs dramatically reduced - I'm
not sure how much, but it would be fairly substantial I would think. And
the key thing is probably the move away from MS: to me, it doesn't
hugely matter that JDS isn't wholly free, because it's 80-90% of the way
there. It makes the final step to a completely free solution a really
easy one, it becomes quite a simple decision.

I wonder whether or not it would be worth starting a campaign
specifically aimed at investigating the various pricing systems. Having
MPs table questions has worked fairly well in the past, and the cost
arguments in favour of free software are quite strong. 

Cheers,

Alex.