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[LUG] Devon Finances: Guestimated cost of non opensource: £130,000 pa

 


On the following assumptions:

- No of users: 6782
- Cost of Microsoft Office per User per Year: £20 (or £60 every three years). This 
is a guess on the principle MS will heavily discount the cost of enterprises 
licenses to encourage use in public sector organisations.
- New computers purchased every 4 years (bit of a guess: I believe that most 
computers would be thrown away every 2-3 years, but all would have to be renewed at 
least every 4 years)
- Cost of Microsoft (as opposed to Linux) per PC: I am guessing £20. I am aware that 
retail OEM MS Operating systems go for about £50, but again I do not believe that 
large public sector organisations pay that
- Interest Rate (Borrowing cost). I am assuming 5%. (The lower the interest rate, 
the more the total cost of staying with MS. I do not know what the borrowing costs 
for Devon County Council are but I would be surprised if they could not borrow at 
less than 5%).
- The cost of switching Bristol's 6000 computers was a one time cost of £643,000

Then the cost of not switching to Microsoft for 10 years is £1.3m or £130,000 per 
year, with a payback of period of the cost of switching of 5 years

Summary of figures changing key variables

Computers                               6782    6782    6782    6782    6782    6782
License Fee MS Office   10              20              50              10           
   20              50
Computer renewal rate   4               4               4               4            
   4               4
Cost of MS software             20              20              20              20   
           20              20
Investment Hurdle               10%             10%             10%             5%   
           5%              5%
Total Cost                              £0.6m   £1.0m   £2.3m   £0.8m   £1.3m   £2.8m
Cost pa                                 £0.06m  £0.1m   £0.2m   £0.08m  £0.1m   £0.3m

Question

a) Does anyone know for certain how often computers are changed in Devon. Is it 
every 3 years or 4. (If computers are changed every three years then the cost of 
staying with MS increases by about £100,000 pa)

b) Does anyone have any realistic idea of how much enterprise software licenses 
cost. I am assuming that the MS charge £20 per user per year. That could be too high 
on the principal that MS might effectively give away the software to ensure that 
County Councils use MS and hence all users are encouraged to use MS. 



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