[GLLUG] IT does cost

[Chris Bell]

Hello,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58085316
is an article about the £2.3bn government spend on patching old computers and 
systems compared with the £4.7bn total government IT spend. There are also 
several comments below.
I do not know how much is spent on desktop system replacement, but there is an 
argument raging about the security aspects and costs of writing replacement or 
upgraded software systems.
There is one comment about existing specialised hardware such as an MRI 
scanner built by a company that no longer exists but would be extremely 
expensive to replaced, (although replacement FOSS may already exist).
I am not a developer, but would be interested in the implications and costs of 
writing and maintaining government software systems using Free Open Source 
Software compared with Microsoft.
I assume that high level languages could be used, and I know what I would 
prefer, but that does not always convince the decision makers who are probably 
not IT experts.

-- 
Chris Bell
Website chrisbell.org.uk