Microsoft denies role in Birmingham Linux flop
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| 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."
|
| 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.
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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.
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http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39284758,00.htm
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