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On 28/09/10 07:07, Mark Evans wrote: > On 27/09/10 20:53, Rob Beard wrote: >> >> From the site: >> >> Procurement decisions will be made on the basis of the best value for >> money solution to the business requirement, taking account of total cost >> of ownership of the solution. >> >> Sounds to me like that gives Microsoft the leverage to offer their >> solutions cheap, isn't that what happened at a council (I forget which >> one) where they said they were going to switch to FLOSS and suddenly >> Microsoft gave them an offer they couldn't refuse and then they took it? > > A very common issue is that many TCO calculations are nothing of the > sort. Most typically with all sorts of costs omitted. > > It's quite common for MS advocates to state something like "free > software is only free if your time is free" whilst ignoring that > proprietary software does not deploy itself or that "licence managment" > can be a very expensive process (both in terms of time and money). > > I couldn't agree more. We are about to upgrade our finance system @ £67,000. That's what we will pay to the supplier for the upgrade. BUT in addition there will be quite a few staff salaries, new kit and other expenses that will creep in. In addition we are told by the supplier (and management have "bought" into this) that we are lucky because we are an early adopter we are getting it cheap. In reality we will be paying for lessons in configuration for them so that they can then flog their system to other customers. Proprietary software has just as many hidden costs if not more that are conveniently forgotten. Tom. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq