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

 

Kevin Tunison wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 10:31 AM, Henry Bremridge
> <henry.bremridge@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>   
>> 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.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Henry
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>>
>>     
>
> If you are going to consider pushing this up for serious debate at the
> business level, there are some other factors to consider.  These are
> all things that Microsoft Licensing Sales Specialists are trained to
> handle, and will pound from the other side of the pulpit.
>
> 1) How MS products are deployed in the environment, is this automated or not
> 2) The man-hours involved in such a deployment
> 3) The cost of those man-hours
> 4) Amount of support calls and time regarding ms office
> 5) The cost of that support in man-hours and money
> 6) Any downgrade costs associated with licensing, as many
> organizations do pay this, suprisingly.  ie downgrade from Office 2007
> to 2003.
> 7) Existing Infrastructure tie-ins with outside vendors and office
> 8) The cost in time and money associated with removing those tie-ins
> and/or technical barriers to entry
> 9) Any other outstanding agreements that may either:
>      a) Force the purchase of Office licensing based on the licensing
> package the organization is subscribed to
>      b) Be a contract between the organization and license reseller
> (this is not Microsoft, ie Ramesys) preventing outside software from
> being installed
>      c) Be a support contract with an outside vendor that only allows
> support of 'approved' software packages
>
>
> With regards to your questions:
>
> -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)
>
> a)  With volume licensing this point is moot.  The number of active
> machines are audited annually, and the license fees are adjusted
> accordingly.  In the MS Licensing realm, this is known as a true-up,
> so the client in year one may pay for 20 machines, a month later add
> 250 workstations, but not have to pay for 270 licenses until the next
> fiscal year.
>
> -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.
>
>
> b) The only way to find out point b is to go subscribe up and become a
> certified licensing specialist, then open dialogue with the approved
> Microsoft Licensing Distributors (as you would now be considered a
> vendor).  Keep in mind volume licensing 'packages' are unique and
> change annually in their own right (in order to keep the licensing
> status one must annually renew their certification).  afaik, the
> certification process requires a passport account and answering a few
> modules of multiple choice questions online, then you're done.  This
> really is a case-by-case basis... there is going to be a totally
> different contract involved with an organization of 7500, than 10,000,
> or 15,000 workstations.
>
> Here is a good starting point re MS licensing:
> https://partner.microsoft.com/UK/licensing/40032720
>
> Warm Regards,
>
> KevinT
>
>   
Just a suggestion but ...

Surely you could get this information through the Freedom of Information 
Act ?

Tom.


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