On Wednesday 25 Jun 2003 11:11 am, Ben Norcutt wrote:
The bit that worries me about this story actually working in IT in a School is that it doesn't say that the Government will bulk buy licences it says the Government will bulk buy computer equipment with the licences to save Schools the licence costs.
The Government bulk buying IT equipment is a joke. I also fail to see where they get this £70 from ours is £36.63 and even if we added the couple of titles not on our agreement this certainly wouldn't more than double the price.
I was confused too by what the government has actually 'negotiated'. it is not clear which M$ licences are covered, is it just the OS or does it cover the core apps like office. And what about all the other non free software that schools use like the (mandatory??) SIMS for admin plus the various teaching progs? Presumably schools still have to by the latest versions of these. As for the idea of central government buying PCs at a discount - well the mind simply boggles.
Ian