[Technical] Interestingcomputers-in-education

[Con Zymaris]

A few more stray thoughts.

On Fri, Aug 05, 2005 at 05:17:30PM +1000, Clark, Ian C wrote:
> ---
> > So this is what's being supplied under the $22 million deal?
> ---
> 
> Hi Con,
> 
> As the director of a company that sells IT products, you're aware the
> savings a very big organization can get for the products its users want
> can be phenomenal.

I am. 

I am also aware that by opening up the tender to competition from other
firms, besides Microsoft, the savings can potentially be even greater. Why 
not do that? That's all I'm asking.

> 
> At the Department of Education and Training, we're talking about up to
> 200,000 computers here, especially if you include the ones not in
> schools but in Department offices.
> http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/ict/computer/inschools/pdf/ITstatsJuly2004.
> pdf
> 
> You gave the figures yourself - a $20 million agreement over three years
> means about $35 annually for each computer, for all these products:
> http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/ict/software/microsoft/agreements.htm

Why pay the $22 million at all?

Fedora Core 4 will cost you $0 per PC per year. 

And it ships with 100 times as many applications as you list on Sofweb.

> 
> And on top of all of this, teachers can install back in their own homes
> the following products: upgrade version of XP, Office Pro, Front Page,
> Visual Studio .Net (pro version).
> 
> That's amazing.

No it's not. 

With my deal, _every_ student (and teacher) can install more zero cost
applications at home. That's even _more_ amazing. ;-)


> 
> A single Red Hat Workstation has an annual fee of three hundred US
> dollars. http://www.redhat.com.au/software/rhel/compare/client/

Why on earth would a student need a corporate-supported desktop 
workstations? You would give them Fedora. Same code, minus the corporate 
support. 

I take it you know that most of the $300 fee for RHEL is for support?

I take it you know that you get no (non-installation) support from 
Microsoft for that $22 million?

> People don't automatically want the cheapest product, they also want the
> one that suits them best - that's what Sun found with Telstra:
> http://cio.co.nz/cio.nsf/0/1AC9651E6AABD504CC256F090077DFC9?OpenDocument

Open up the market and we'll see who is best.

Keep it closed and you get only Microsoft.

I can re-iterate this basic point for as long as you like ;-)

-- 
___________________________________________________________________________
Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
Web: http://www.cyber.com.au/  Phone: 03 9621 2377   Fax: 03 9621 2477