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Newham refuses to reveal revised Microsoft MOU
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| Newham locked itself in to a 10-year deal to pay Microsoft £4.7 million for
| software as part of a £20 million IT infrastructure package with Hewlett
| Packard in 2003.
|
| Elected councillors voted to buy Microsoft software instead of installing
| open source software, which is free, after being offered Microsoft discounts
| and an alluring array of promises in the original MOU that included a
| measurable improvement the Council's official performance rating.
|
| The MOU failed to fulfill this and at least one other key deliverable. But
| Newham retained its 10-year deal with Microsoft and drew up a new MOU last
| year.
|
| It is not clear whether the deliverables have been cut back and the payments
| of public money to Microsoft have been cut accordingly. Newham refused the
| INQUIRER's request to release the new MOU after, it said, conducting a public
| interest test.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/23/newham-covers-microsoft-moo
If it's all secret, then it's probably safe to just trust them, eh? They even
point to their own 'studies' for validation.
DfT shared-services plan under fire
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| Government IT has had a shoddy record under the present government. Way too
| much money spent for absurdly poor results. The main problem being the
| tenuous link between the way the Gov does IT and the real world.
|
| If they spent even a couple of hours investigating how 'shared-services' is
| done in the real world, then even our Microsoft-obsessed Government would
| figure out that it's done with Open Source.
|
| Google, SaaS and so on all depend upon Open Source as their core ingredient.
`----
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/talkback/0,1000001161,39422953-39001084c-20094348o,00.htm
Recent:
Promoting Microsoft...
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| is written into his MoU with Microsoft.
|
| This is the same man who originated the term "doing a Newham" - ie the
| process of feigning interest in Linux to get, ahem, 'preferential
| arrangements' with Microsoft.
|
| This is the same man who, in line with Newhams MoU with Microsoft, starred in
| Microsoft's "Get the Facts" roadshow.
|
| As Dr John Pugh MP has stated, "Microsoft is *very* close to the UK
| Government, and they intend to stay there".
|
| Richard Steel's appointment as President of Socitm is a very canny play from
| the multiply-convicted monopolist.
|
| Of course the contractual obligation to promote Microsoft in the UK Public
| Sector will not affect either his credibility, or his bias-free ability to
| perform this new role, nobody could possibly think that, could they?
`----
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/talkback/0,1000001161,39408136-39001084c-20093563o,00.htm
Newham has a cow over Microsoft MOU
,----[ Quote
| However, Newham has supplied the INQUIRER with internal studies that it says
| do demonstrate that its decision to commit to Microsoft was justified. The
| studies were performed by Socitm, a private public sector consulting firm of
| which Newham COI Steele is a vice president. the INQUIRER will report on
| these findings in due course.
|
| Meanwhile, the original MOU is enlightening. As well as claiming the deal
| would enable Newham to achieve high rankings in Audit Commission assessments,
| it committed Newham to moving all "competitive technology" to Microsoft,
| regardless of the feasibility of such a move.
|
| It also required Steele to promote Microsoft software.
|
| See attached file: Memorandum of Understanding.doc
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/21/microsoft-newham-council-goes
Is This the Season of Porcine Aerobatics?
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| Two of the darkest moments for open source in the UK involved the loss of
| major public projects. The first was Newham Borough Council, which ran a
| high-profile trial of open source only to ditch it at the last moment, after
| magically receiving an offer it couldn't refuse from Microsoft – which cynics
| suggested was the main motivation for the open source exercise in the first
| place.
|
| This was bad news for free software, because it enabled Microsoft to do two
| things. First, it could claim that an independent body had tried open source
| and found it wanting, and secondly, it was able to use Newham as a showcase
| for its public sector technology.
|
| In some ways, the second defeat was even worse. It involved a massive
| contract with the NHS that was far-reaching in scope...
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?blogid=14&entryid=728
London council dumps Microsoft, may go open source instead
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| NEWHAM LONDON Borough Council has scrapped the controversial 10-year
| Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it signed with Microsoft in 2004 and drawn
| up a new agreement with a new set of deliverables.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/18/microsoft-flagship-flounders
EU: Europarlement testing Ubuntu, OpenOffice and Firefox
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| The European Parliament's IT department is testing the use of GNU/Linux
| distribution Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox and other Open Source applications,
| the British MEP James Nicholson explained last week in a letter to Italian
| MEP Marco Cappato.
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http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7565
Is Microsoft Now Banned from EU Contracts?
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=697&blogid=14
Euro MP thinks Microsoft should be banned from government contracts
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/10/member-eu-parliament-asks
Green MEP says Microsoft should be excluded from EU contract awarding procedure
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/106338/from/rss09
MEPs Question Microsoft's Eligibility for Gov't Projects
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| The Commission, which has not responded yet, is allowed a few weeks to reply.
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http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144591/meps_question_microsofts_eligibility_for_govt_projects.html
Government faces crunch on Microsoft mega-deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Rumour has it that Microsoft hasn't been feeling appreciated in the public
| sector, thinking its customers don't know what a good deal they've been
| getting since the MOU was first negotiated in 2002. BECTA, the procurement
| quango for the education sector, has recommended schools don't upgrade to
| Microsoft Vista and Office 2007.
|
| [...]
|
| "There's a big anti-Microsoft lobby growing on the green agenda" he said,
| especially among local councils who were beginning to realise that PC's were
| power hungry and expensive to maintain. They were taking interest in
| think-client computers instead.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/15/uk-gov-faces-crunch-microsoft
Lawmaker blasts U.K. government on Microsoft policy
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| "A member of Parliament of the United Kingdom has launched a stinging
| attack on the U.K. government's IT strategy, saying that it has given
| Microsoft too much control.
|
| John Pugh, who is a member of Parliament, or MP, for Southport and a
| member of the Public Accounts Committee, was speaking in an
| adjournment debate on Tuesday that he had called. The aim of the
| debate, he said, was to explore the alternatives to using Microsoft
| software, including open source."
|
| [...]
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http://www.news.com/Lawmaker-blasts-U.K.-government-on-Microsoft-policy/2100-1012_3-6212721.html
http://tinyurl.com/2ashm2
Interview with Richard M. Stallman
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| It is important to know this because we will always face pressure, from those
| who are powerful and would like to take away our freedom, to surrender our
| freedom—and they frequently offer us something attractive in exchange. For
| instance, B’liar wanted to abolish the Rights of Englishmen, and to serve his
| American master, Bush, faithfully; so he offered Britons “protection” from
| this or that, plus the imagined idea that he influences his master on their
| behalf through the “special relationship”.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/interview_with_richard_stallman
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