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

[Alex Hudson]

On Sun, 2003-12-07 at 12:15, Tom Coady wrote:
> According to this http://www.business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1341432003
> Sun have already got the deal.

I think this is something separate - they've won a contract with OGC to
roll out a test system, which could in theory then be rolled out
further. That seems to be more along the lines of what Newham are doing.

One of the things people don't often realise about Microsoft is that
while free software users often think of them as the 'enemy', they don't
see us that way: I'm not sure how much 'Linux' figures in the thinking
of the average MS employee in this country, but their sales people tend
to be far more concerned with Java. As in, really concerned. Java is
what they're selling against.

The introduction of a Java desktop is interesting from the point of view
that it allows Sun to compete more broadly with Microsoft. Sun's
back-end stuff isn't much to write home about from a freedom point of
view, but from a point of view of opening up the desktop - and really,
it's the desktop that tends to drive a lot of things - it could play out
very well. 

Cheers,

Alex.