[HLUG] hereford councils contract with microsoft up for renewal

[Sarah Chard]

there are options though
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/bristol-city-council-to-consider-open-sourcemicrosoft-tie-up-9966
which involve partial migration to start removing the lock-in 

-- 
Sarah




On Tue, 2010-09-28 at 22:12 +0100, Richard Smedley wrote:
> Yes, MS have the council firmly in its
> grip - the only way out of this is
> mandating open standards. Once all
> apps are compatible with open data
> formats, then options become available
> - whether proprietary or Free Software. [1]
> 
> Until then, well ... enjoy seeing your
> council tax flying over the Atlantic :-/
> 
>  - Richard
> 
> [1] Open Standards benefit everyone except
>     monopolists. ;o)
> 
> On 28/09/10 21:56, Sarah Chard wrote:
> > I wonder what comments/thoughts other HLUG members have about the
> > following which I have just read on the Herefordshire council website
> > relating to the decision made in april 2008 to renew the councils
> > contract with microsoft
> > http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/iedecisiondetails.aspx?id=1609&j=1&zts=undefined
> > 
> > 
> > the contract is up for renewal in april 2011 so they must already be
> > discussing whether or not they should renew it - it seems to have been
> > rubber stamped in 2008 - 
> > the relevant wording from the council's 2008 decision is below - perhaps
> > we should be offering the council an alternative viewpoint before they
> > make their 2011 decision and spend all that money?
> > 
> > Purpose:
> > To agree the renewal of the current Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
> > licence, support and maintenance contract covering all corporate
> > (excluding schools, education and research) Microsoft computer software
> > in use within the authority for a period of three years.
> > 
> > Decision:
> > THAT
> > 
> > a)      the funding available is noted; and
> > 
> > b)     the contract is renewed in the sum of £645,000 over the three
> > year period.
> > 
> > Reasons for the decision:
> > To ensure that all corporate Microsoft software is covered in terms of
> > support, maintenance and licence compliance for a period of three years
> > and to ensure that the Council continues to receive the associated forty
> > percent discount for new Microsoft software.
> > 
> > Alternative options considered:
> > 1.      There are no realistic alternative options in terms of supplier.
> > The majority of partners, local Councils, Central Government
> > departments, NHS agencies and businesses use Microsoft software.
> > 
> > 2.      To switch to another supplier would be problematic at best as
> > the majority of business applications within the Council only work on
> > and with Microsoft operating systems and Office software. They would,
> > therefore, become unworkable, necessitating their replacement. In short,
> > the Council are locked into this supplier as are all other organisations
> > who predominantly use Microsoft software on such a scale.
> > 
> > 3.      Microsoft software costs are seen as a “cost of doing business”
> > by most organisations as there is no real alternative supplier that
> > provides the same breadth of software to the same high quality and most
> > importantly, to the same level of usability for staff and engineers.[1]
> > 
> > 4.      The authority could choose not to renew the Enterprise
> > Agreement. However, this means the Council will lose out on the benefits
> > of having an organisation-wide agreement and face a much larger cost
> > when rolling out projects that require desktops or servers or when
> > purchasing Microsoft products. When Microsoft upgrades its current line
> > of products the Council would not be able to upgrade them and would have
> > to buy the new version at full price. At over 2000 desktop users and
> > over 100 servers this would be at a much higher cost (40% extra per unit
> > of Microsoft software). Additional staff resource would be required to
> > provide licence compliance support.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ________________________________________________________________________
> > [1] The only alternative to Microsoft software is open source software.
> > This is provided by many different companies. Whilst appearing to be
> > free, the total cost of ownership is similar if not slightly higher than
> > when using Microsoft software on such an organisation-wide scale. The
> > majority of the business applications in use do not work on this
> > platform so most of the other software in use across the Council would
> > need to be replaced as well as the core desktop and server software.
> > Full retraining of all staff and technical engineers would need to take
> > place and further integration with the Primary Care Trust who use
> > Microsoft software would be made more difficult and costly.
> > 
> > 
> > Publication Date: 11/04/2008
> > 
> > Date of Decision: 10/04/2008
> > 
> > Effective from: 17/04/2008
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> --
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