16 Jul 2010
NHS IT adviser Connecting for Health has informed other NHS organisations that there will be no new deal for Microsoft applications. The contract, estimated to be worth £500m, was due for renewal after running for 12 years.
NHS trusts will still have the right to use existing software, but they will have to negotiate their own terms with the US software giant in order to gain access to updates and future releases.
Up to 850,000 NHS users were covered by the deal, with some analysts questioning the need for every member of staff to have access to the full Microsoft suite of applications.
The now-terminated contract also enabled NHS staff to purchase Microsoft software for home use at minimal cost. This facility expired with the wider licensing deal.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley's Liberating the NHS white paper promised that NHS organisations would increasingly become "customers of a more plural system of IT and other suppliers". The termination of the Microsoft deal reflects this change.
Re: Howard.
OpenOffice isn't fully MS Office compatible, and isn't as stable as said paid for equivalent. I would agree if every major corp/organisation used OO then all would be well, but they don't, so some documents show incorrectly formatted etc, and that doesn't exactly show professionalism when printed out does it?
I do think however that Government and Private Sector organisations should use MORE open source products as it would save millions upon millions in MS Licensing costs.
Posted by: Haydn 25 Jul 2010
Given the availability of numerous full featured, supported and free office suites, such as Open Office, that can perform all of the functions of MS Office, the real question is how any agency or corporation can still justify paying for MS Office at all?
Posted by: Howard Angleton 17 Jul 2010
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