http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2316&blogid=14
Yesterday I wrote about a report from ACT that brought up the issue of
TCO for free software.
As I pointed out there, it's old news that free software has costs; but
what is more interesting is the fact that fans of the proprietary world
always fail to point out the huge hidden costs of using poorly-written
closed-source software. Here's a great demonstration of my point:
The `Conficker worm' caused chaos when it hit Manchester town hall
in February. Now we can reveal the bug cost the council more than
£43,000 in `lost' bus lane fines.
The computer problems meant 1,609 tickets could not be issued within
the 28-day legal limit - rendering them useless.
In total, the Conficker worm cost taxpayers in Manchester nearly
£1.5m, the M.E.N has learned.
A £1.2m bill in the IT department, including £600,000 getting
‘consultancy support’ to fix the problems, which including drafting
in
experts from Microsoft;
£178,000 in extra staffing costs across the town hall – including
£169,000 going to clear up a backlog of benefits claims and council tax
bills;
Compensation payments due to delays in processing benefit claims.
A few things to note here.
The first is that once more the word “Windows” isn't mentioned
anywhere in this story: it's as if Conficker were some medieval plague
that affected everyone when, of course, it is only visited upon those
foolish enough to put their trust in Microsoft. This is a reflection of
poor reporting throughout the industry, and the effectiveness of
Microsoft's brainwashing that such infections are just an inevitable
part of life like death and taxes.
Talking of Microsoft, note too how Microsoft was actually paid for
helping to fix the problem it caused. This is truly extraordinary:
there can't be another industry where you get rewarded for making
mistakes and causing pain and chaos to your customers.
Finally, the sum involved, £1.5 million would easily have paid for
Windows to be ripped out and replaced with something safer, like open
source software. As Mark Taylor – who knows a thing or two about the
subject from practical experience - points out in a tweet:
We could *migrate* Manchester for less than £600k! What a heinous
waste of taxpayers money proprietary software is...
-- Acta Virum Probant --
-- Deo Volente --
----
Kiggundu Mukasa
Serval Ltd.
Plot 80 Kanjokya Street
P.O. Box 24284 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 772 972255
+256 414 571779
Fax: +256 312 262122
http://serval.ug/
-- Acta Virum Probant --
-- Deo Volente --
----
Kiggundu Mukasa
Serval Ltd.
Plot 80 Kanjokya Street
P.O. Box 24284 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: +256 772 972255
+256 414 571779
Fax: +256 312 262122
http://serval.ug/
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