NHS launches open source development
,----[ Quote ]
| The NHS is a major Microsoft customer, and last year signed a large deal to
| upgrade to Windows Vista. But, it always maintained it would continually
| evaluate open source.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/open-source-business/news/index.cfm?newsid=8620
There's pretty obvious manipulation in the system leading to all those 'deals'
in the UK. How quickly things change. See below for details.
2 days ago:
London council dumps Microsoft, may go open source instead
,----[ Quote ]
| NEWHAM LONDON Borough Council has scrapped the controversial 10-year
| Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it signed with Microsoft in 2004 and drawn
| up a new agreement with a new set of deliverables.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/18/microsoft-flagship-flounders
A week ago:
NHS IT loses its interim head
,----[ Quote ]
| The project threatens to be the world's largest ever public sector IT
| project. Provider Accenture withdrew from it in 2006 and another key partner,
| healthcare records provider iSoft, got stuck in a lengthy takeover battle
| before being bought by IBA in October 2007.
|
| The £12bn project is already running late and has struggled to win the hearts
| and minds of healthcare professionals.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/10/npfit_loses_head/
UK Gov department's IT spend is £2 billion over budget
,----[ Quote ]
| THE DEPARTMENT for Work and Pensions has admitted the true cost over-runs of
| its IT projects.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/04/dwp-really-2bn-budget
Recent:
UK: Major cost reduction result of Bristol's switch to Open Standards
,----[ Quote ]
| Bristol City Council's switch to StarOffice in 2005 has led to a major
| reduction of IT costs, says Gavin Beckett, the council's ICT Strategy
| manager.
|
| StarOffice is Sun Microsystems' proprietary suite of office applications,
| which is based on the Open Source OpenOffice. In 2006 Bristol took the
| further step of adopting the ISO-approved Open Document Format (ODF).
|
| Speaking at a conference on ODF in the Netherlands last month, Beckett said
| that implementing StarOffice for 5,500 desktops in Bristol saved 1.1 million
| GBP (1.4 million euro) in comparison to the total cost of implementing
| Microsoft Office. "The licences for StarOffice cost us 186,000 GBP (243,000
| euro), in comparison to 1.4 million GBP (1.8 million euro) for MS Office."
|
| These major savings were offset slightly by extra time needed for
| implementing StarOffice. Implementation cost the city council 484,000 GBP
| (632,000 euro), double the estimate for MS Office. This was due to document
| conversion and training, said the IT Strategy manager. Explaining and
| troubleshooting the new office applications took several months more than
| planned.
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7409
EU: Europarlement testing Ubuntu, OpenOffice and Firefox
,----[ Quote ]
| The European Parliament's IT department is testing the use of GNU/Linux
| distribution Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox and other Open Source applications,
| the British MEP James Nicholson explained last week in a letter to Italian
| MEP Marco Cappato.
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7565
Is Microsoft Now Banned from EU Contracts?
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=697&blogid=14
Euro MP thinks Microsoft should be banned from government contracts
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/10/member-eu-parliament-asks
Green MEP says Microsoft should be excluded from EU contract awarding procedure
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/106338/from/rss09
MEPs Question Microsoft's Eligibility for Gov't Projects
,----[ Quote ]
| The Commission, which has not responded yet, is allowed a few weeks to reply.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144591/meps_question_microsofts_eligibility_for_govt_projects.html
Government faces crunch on Microsoft mega-deal
,----[ Quote ]
| Rumour has it that Microsoft hasn't been feeling appreciated in the public
| sector, thinking its customers don't know what a good deal they've been
| getting since the MOU was first negotiated in 2002. BECTA, the procurement
| quango for the education sector, has recommended schools don't upgrade to
| Microsoft Vista and Office 2007.
|
| [...]
|
| "There's a big anti-Microsoft lobby growing on the green agenda" he said,
| especially among local councils who were beginning to realise that PC's were
| power hungry and expensive to maintain. They were taking interest in
| think-client computers instead.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/15/uk-gov-faces-crunch-microsoft
Related:
Lawmaker blasts U.K. government on Microsoft policy
,----[ Quote ]
| "A member of Parliament of the United Kingdom has launched a stinging
| attack on the U.K. government's IT strategy, saying that it has given
| Microsoft too much control.
|
| John Pugh, who is a member of Parliament, or MP, for Southport and a
| member of the Public Accounts Committee, was speaking in an
| adjournment debate on Tuesday that he had called. The aim of the
| debate, he said, was to explore the alternatives to using Microsoft
| software, including open source."
|
| [...]
`----
http://www.news.com/Lawmaker-blasts-U.K.-government-on-Microsoft-policy/2100-1012_3-6212721.html
http://tinyurl.com/2ashm2
Interview with Richard M. Stallman
,----[ Quote ]
| It is important to know this because we will always face pressure, from those
| who are powerful and would like to take away our freedom, to surrender our
| freedom—and they frequently offer us something attractive in exchange. For
| instance, B’liar wanted to abolish the Rights of Englishmen, and to serve his
| American master, Bush, faithfully; so he offered Britons “protection” from
| this or that, plus the imagined idea that he influences his master on their
| behalf through the “special relationship”.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/interview_with_richard_stallman
iSoft in critical condition as NHS trusts seek alternatives
,----[ Quote ]
| The government's vision of an integrated computer system for the
| NHS is coming apart at the seams as NHS trusts are to start looking
| for alternative IT suppliers, The Guardian reports.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/05/nhs_upgrade_alt/
Microsoft in the NHS
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is one of the key technology firms in the £6.2 billion NHS
| IT programme. It is working particularly closely with iSOFT ...
`----
http://www.e-health-insider.com/comment_and_analysis/index.cfm?ID=69
Prescription for an I.T. Disaster?
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2002, the British government embarked on a $12 billion effort to
| transform its health-care system with information technology. But
| the country's oversight agency now puts that figure at $24 billion,
| and two Members of Parliament say the project is "sleepwalking
| toward disaster."
`----
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,2058194,00.asp
NHS computer boss failed IT exams
,----[ Quote ]
| Mary Granger is amazed that her son was put in charge of a £20bn
| project to transform the NHS's computer system. She is less
| surprised that his 'Connecting for Health' project is over-budget,
| behind schedule and threatening to become the biggest IT disaster
| in history.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35685
NHS Scotland pools budget for Microsoft savings
,----[ Quote ]
| NHS National Services Scotland forecasts it will save up to £8m over
| three years from a new procurement deal with Microsoft
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/30/scottish_nhs_microsoft_procurement_deal/
Accenture escapes £1bn penalty for NHS walk-out
,----[ Quote ]
| Accenture, the IT and consultancy firm has avoided huge penalty fees for
| withdrawing from the UK National Programme for IT (NPfIT).
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/29/accenture_nhs_penalty/
Accenture: NHS failure is 'track record for success'
,----[ Quote ]
| After months of negotiations, Accenture handed contracts worth £2bn over
| to rival Computer Sciences Corporation after getting paid just £110m
| for spending a third of the allotted 10 years on the job. Its hand had
| been forced by losses of $450m it was set to make on the deal this
| year.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/09/28/accenture_failure_success/
CfH refutes computer failure claims
,----[ Quote ]
| "Very often they are not major incidents as such, but could be caused when
| a patient administration system is running slow or there may be problems
| with the local network. The severity level is attributed by the user and
| this is subsequently very often down graded or amended."
|
| Many of the incidents that have been reported by CfH include failure of
| the systems used by surgeons to see X-ray pictures on a computer screen
| in wards and operating theatres. On some occasions the system is believed
| to have crashed during an operation, forcing surgeons to suspend the
| procedure while a hard copy of the X-ray is found.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/19/cfh_defends_itself/
NHS Direct all better
,----[ Quote ]
| NHS Direct is back online this afternoon after going on the sick
| with a server error earlier today.
|
| According to Netcraft, the Windows 2000 server at the bargain
| basement hypochondriac magnet modern, accessible public healthcare
| resource was rebooted today. See here.
|
| Whatever malady did for the box, it was "unexpected", as the message
| on the site explained for most of today.
|
| NHS Direct was unavailable for comment at time of writing.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/nhsdirect_back/
|
|
