begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Microsoft denies role in Birmingham Linux flop
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Laurent Lachal, senior analyst at Ovum, said, "Microsoft is going out
>| of its way to lower prices to get deals. If it lowers it to the point
>| where it makes no sense to deploy open source, then it is a good deal
>| for the organisation."
No, it's not a good deal for the organisation, because you cannot escape
the vendor lock-in, something Microsoft understand very well indeed.
There is /no/ price at which Microsoft is worth it.
>|
>| Bob Griffiths, international secretary at SOCITM, the association for
>| public sector IT professionals which supported the Birmingham project
>| through the Open Source Academy, acknowledged that Microsoft had
>| been "involved in negotiations" with the council. He said that he was
>| unsure whether Birmingham had gained an advantage through its Linux
>| pilot in bargaining with Microsoft, but added that other councils
>| had successfully used that tactic.
> `----
Getting a few quid off a lock-in? No wonder council-tax bills are so
high - this is incompetence.
>
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39284823,00.htm
>
> They pull the same type of stuff when it comes to charities.
>
> Context:
>
> Criticism mounts over Birmingham's Linux project
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Several industry watchers have voiced their concerns about the project,
>| particularly around the number of PCs rolled out. Birmingham's expenditure
>| averaged over £2,500 per PC.
>|
>| "That's ridiculous," said Eddie Bleasdale, the owner of open-source
>| consultancy NetProject and an early participant in the project. "It's
>| an unbelievable cock-up... They decided to do it all themselves,
>| without expertise in the area," he added, saying that a lack of
>| skills in open source and secure desktops would undoubtedly have
>| raised costs.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| Mark Taylor, whose Open Source Consortium also exited the project
>| in the early stages, said: "I have no idea how anyone could spend
>| half a million pounds on 200 desktops, running free software".
>|
>| Asked by ZDNet UK whether he was surprised that an XP upgrade was
>| calculated as cheaper than the Linux project, Taylor said, "If it's
>| done properly, that can't happen. It's amazing that anyone can spend
>| that much on [Linux] project management." Taylor added that there
>| are plenty of open-source skills in the Birmingham area which could
>| have been utilised.
> `----
>
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39284758,00.htm
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
What will you do if all your problems aren't solved by the time you die?
|
|
