Hello, sometime appear on the IRC meetings as Shadowtlx and have just rejoined this mailing list. Below is a question I asked Norwich City Council.

Question. In this time of council cuts and cash shortages, how much money is the council spending on Microsoft software (e.g. MS Windows, MS Office etc)? Including the cost of Windows when bought as part of new systems.

As an alternative, the council could use free software. Free operating systems could be used instead of MS Windows such as Linux, NetBSD etc. These OSes are of a commercial standard and because they are open source are available on a large number of hardware platforms. This means they could remove windows from their computers without needing to change the computers, in fact Linux is more efficient so old computers can be used for longer. Linux (the third most popular PC OS and second most popular server OS) is more secure than Windows, OpenBSD is a version of BSD with security a top concern. All these OS are immune to Windows viruses. Linux is a clone of Unix (an OS that has been in existence since 1969). The open system Unix (is produced by several manufacturers) and along with Windows are the 2 main OS in use. Using Linux instead of Windows and commercial Unix will unite computers leading to standardisation. For web browsing there is Mozilla (an open source version of Netscape). For office software there is OpenOffice.org 1, KDEoffice etc. You get all this for no cost, what is more the software has a licence that stops people charging for it in the future e.g. the GPL.

Supplemental Question. Are free OSes and there apps being trialled by the council? By adopting Linux the council would be helping to put Norwich and Norfolk into a more modern outlook when it comes to IT. If the council insists on using commercial operating systems then why not have local OS such as the one developed in East Anglia. RISC OS computers are more enviromently friendly.

"Office software is a problem for local authorities because of the expense", says Socitm national secretary Bob Griffith.

Unilever is migrating its IT infrastructure to Linux. The move will contribute to a cost saving of 66 million pounds. "Everytime we put in Linux, we are amazed and surprised at it's speed and the reliability with which we can run it." said Unilever.

In answer to the main question they said they will pass my suggests on the companies running the councils IT in a 15 year outsourceing contract. During the asking of the supplemental question I tried to press them into giving a figure on M$ costs, but all they would say is that there contractors said the cost of finding out was disproportionate. So Norwich City Council does not know the costs of services of one of it's major suppliers. I intended to ask Norfolk County Council the same questions.