[News] Cabinet Office in the UK Apparently Considers Free
Software

PC deal could save public sector billions

,----[ Quote ]
| The Cabinet Office's price of £800 to £1,000 per PC - according to the 
| numbers bought - includes support, server farms, security to low-level 
| government standards, storage, Open Office software and infrastructure costs.

| It is "commodity" pricing for supported PCs, said Suffolk.   
`----

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/03/31/230047/pc-deal-could-save-publ
ic-sector-billions.htm

Assume they mean OpenOffice? LXer cites it, so it seems like good news. They
still seem to be listening to Microsoft-funded shills called Gartner.


Related:

Lawmaker blasts U.K. government on Microsoft policy

,----[ Quote ]
| 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.
`----

http://www.news.com/Lawmaker-blasts-U.K.-government-on-Microsoft-policy/2100-101
2_3-6212721.html

On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:21:16 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:

> Assume they mean OpenOffice? LXer cites it, so it seems like good news.
> They still seem to be listening to Microsoft-funded shills called
> Gartner.

The UK Tory Party have already said that when they are elected they will 
promote a much wider use of open source software in government.

http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=135394

____/ Robin T Cox on Thursday 03 April 2008 08:57 : \____

> On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:21:16 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> 
>> Assume they mean OpenOffice? LXer cites it, so it seems like good
news.
>> They still seem to be listening to Microsoft-funded shills called
>> Gartner.
> 
> The UK Tory Party have already said that when they are elected they will
> promote a much wider use of open source software in government.
> 
> http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=135394
> http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=135408

Also noteworthy from the article above:

____
    Suffolk told Gartner, “I think we have fundamentally failed on a
worldwide
basis as an IT industry to understand the cost of what we do. And I roundly
blame Gartner for this, because you guys are the ones who come up with TCO
[total cost of ownership] benchmarking. It has become a self-fulfilling
prophecy.

    “So, I go out and I pick boring desktop infrastructure. What price do you
think the suppliers broadly pitch? You will not be shocked to know that it is
somewhere around the Gartner TCO benchmark.” 
___

So do you see how Gartnersoft fixes the prices? Old quote:

“Microsoft did sponsor the benchmark testing and the NT server was better
tuned
than the Linux one. Having said that, I must say that I still trust the
Windows NT server would have outperformed the Linux one.”

–Windows platform manager, Microsoft South-Africa
Reference: Outrage at Microsoft’s independent, yet sponsored NT 4.0/Linux
research


Also this:

“Analysts sell out - that’s their business model… But they are very
concerned
that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes them very
prickly to work with.”

–Microsoft, internal document 

-- 
                ~~ Best of wishes

Roy S. Schestowitz      |    "These characters were randomly picked"
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On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:43:32 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:

>> The UK Tory Party have already said that when they are elected they
>> will promote a much wider use of open source software in government.

And, as we speak David Cameron has reiterated Tory support for Linux and 
open source. Reported in today's Register.

<quote>
David Cameron embraced Linux, open source and bottoms-up decision-making 
today as he detailed his vision of a Tory innovation policy in a speech 
at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
</quote>
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/03/conservative_open_source/

____/ Robin T Cox on Thursday 03 April 2008 16:18 : \____

> On Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:43:32 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> 
>>> The UK Tory Party have already said that when they are elected
they
>>> will promote a much wider use of open source software in
government.
> 
> And, as we speak David Cameron has reiterated Tory support for Linux and
> open source. Reported in today's Register.
> 
> <quote>
> David Cameron embraced Linux, open source and bottoms-up decision-making
> today as he detailed his vision of a Tory innovation policy in a speech
> at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.
> </quote>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/03/conservative_open_source/

Brilliant. Deeds are more credible than words though. In Brasil it's often used
as sentimental attachment (some say), but recent reports indicate a sharp rise
for Linux and FOSS there. Here is a recent one:

Brazilian Enterprises Embrace Open Source 

,----[ Quote ]
| Linux and related open-source software has gained an increasingly important 
| role among large local corporations in Brazil, according to a recent study. 
| 
| The Instituto Sem Fronteiras, a Brazilan research firm, found that 73 percent

| of companies with more than a thousand employees are open source users.  
`----

http://www.crn.com/software/206904491

OOXML: Brazil Says NO. Again.

,----[ Quote ]
| It is now official. Brazilian vote was decided by consensus of the entire 
| technical team, including Microsoft crew’s: OOXML does not deserve to be an

| international ISO standard.  
`----

http://avi.alkalay.net/2008/03/ooxml-brazil-says-no-again.html

-- 
                ~~ Best of wishes

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