You've also decided Open Source is "free" software, tell that to Red Hat
Someone has to maintain the systems and that someone needs paying.
The base cost of the operating system / office suite is relatively trivial.
£400? don't be silly...

Big corporates run off bespoke apps, that is the real problem.
They also use specialist software (in our case Autocad) that will not run on Linux or need upgrading itself if another version of Windows is used.
They are also a huge expense - Autocad LT2009 is £975.
That is why no-one leaps from NT4 to 2000 to XP to Vista lightly, never mind to Linux, or Unix, or whatever.
It's not the cost of the base system, it's the cost of the whole shebang i.e. all the infrastructure and how it interacts together (especially from a support perspective), not just one bit of it.

On the desktop Windows is king, get over it.
In the server room it most definetely isn't.

DH has hit the nail on the head with a lot of real world issues.
Take the support side, we have SLAs with our clients.
Those clients do not relax those SLAs when we change technology.
We have a lot of Windows knowledge, so any tech change from MS we are already half way up the ladder (usually a lot more).

If it all went Linux we'd all be on the bottom rung .
Then who do we contact for help?
Who runs Open Source Ltd?

You really need to understand what is required to keep big organisations going, and yes that includes your local school as it is a small part of a big organisation.
Any accusations of Government conivence with MS really are just conspiracy theories.
Look at the practicality of what you are proposing in all respects.
Unless you have had exposure to these environments, in all honesty you really can't.

Dave R

XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC

If the savings were really there it would happen, I guarantee it, and it happens at the back end.
If my employer (big global outsourcer CSC) could slash their costs and maintain the same level of service, what do you think they'd do?
Or do you think they're all in bed with Gates and Ballmer?

Dave R

XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC

How can they possibly *not* switch to open source?

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Have - Asus P5B deluxe wifi, e6600, HD3850, Seasonic s12 600, Stacker 830, GeIL 2GB PC2 6400 C4 Black Dragon, NEC Optiarc AD-7191S 20x Internal DVDRW Lightscribe, 2x500GB Spinpoint 501 SATA II - Want - HD4870x2

Founder of the P.U.P.P.I.E.S.

Classic PCs
Original IBM PC (4.77MHz 8088, 256KB RAM, monochrome) · Original IBM PC XT (4.77MHz 8088, 512KB, 10MB HDD, monochrome) · Original Compaq Deskpro (7.14MHz 8086, 640KB, 20MB HDD, CGA graphics)

Home Computers
Commodore VIC-20 · C64 original · C64 Terminator edition · C16 · Amiga 500 · Amiga 600 · Amiga 600 HD · Amiga 1200  Acorn Electron · A3010 (Archimedes) · A4000 (Archimedes)  Others Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K · Dragon 32

Consoles
Nintendo Wii · GameCube purple (x 2) · GameCube black · N64 black (x 2) · N64 clear blue · SNES (x 2) · NES (x 2) · DS silver (x 3) · GBA SP silver · GBA purple · GBA clear · Game Boy Color clear · Game Boy  Sega Dreamcast x 3 · Saturn · Mega Drive II · Mega Drive · Master System  Atari 10-in-1 · Jaguar (x 2) · 7800 · 2600 wood-grain  Microsoft Xbox 360 · Xbox  Others Mattel Intellivision · MB Vectrex · GoldStar 3DO · Sony PlayStation (original)

Bish, if you think that's really the picture then you are very much mistaken.
Especially the back end systems.

This is the problem and my point.
Lots of you think it's like this, when actually it's a bit of that and some of the other.
Don't forget I actually work in this world.

Ohh err, just thought, Cisco is an American company too.
They are much more likely to have an infrastructure monoploy in a business than Microsoft.

Dave R

XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC

Yeah, my back-end system is none of Microsoft's business.

Classic PCs
Original IBM PC (4.77MHz 8088, 256KB RAM, monochrome) · Original IBM PC XT (4.77MHz 8088, 512KB, 10MB HDD, monochrome) · Original Compaq Deskpro (7.14MHz 8086, 640KB, 20MB HDD, CGA graphics)

Home Computers
Commodore VIC-20 · C64 original · C64 Terminator edition · C16 · Amiga 500 · Amiga 600 · Amiga 600 HD · Amiga 1200  Acorn Electron · A3010 (Archimedes) · A4000 (Archimedes)  Others Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K · Dragon 32

Consoles
Nintendo Wii · GameCube purple (x 2) · GameCube black · N64 black (x 2) · N64 clear blue · SNES (x 2) · NES (x 2) · DS silver (x 3) · GBA SP silver · GBA purple · GBA clear · Game Boy Color clear · Game Boy  Sega Dreamcast x 3 · Saturn · Mega Drive II · Mega Drive · Master System  Atari 10-in-1 · Jaguar (x 2) · 7800 · 2600 wood-grain  Microsoft Xbox 360 · Xbox  Others Mattel Intellivision · MB Vectrex · GoldStar 3DO · Sony PlayStation (original)