“The Justice Department also renewed its request that the court fine Microsoft $1 million a day for contempt…”

– Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, a book composed

by the daughter of Microsoft’s PR mogul

Summary: The British government stops paying the criminal company that blackmails its members, thereby increasing the possibility of complete escape from proprietary software

SPENDING around $10,000 per Windows desktop per year in the British government (i.e. around the same as a brand new car per year for one single desktop!) is far from reasonable. It’s theft, it’s embezzlement. It shows why Microsoft is so exceptionally desperate to keep its contracts with the British government — to the point of blackmailing British politicians.

According to this new report which relates to our recent writings, no more will our government waste $10,000 per desktop per year and it is definitely getting closer to altogether dumping Windows.

“The UK government has decided,” says The Register, “as foreshadowed by The Reg, that it can do without extended support for Windows XP.

“The nation signed up for Microsoft’s super-special zombie OS support service – aka a Custom Support Agreement – last year, but a recent meeting of government Technology Leaders decided enough is enough. A post on the Government Technology Blog says the Leaders “took a collective decision to not extend the support arrangement for 2015.”

“A support agreement that ended in April was therefore not renewed.”

Microsoft now uses scare tactics to make the government ‘upgrade’ (rent new versions of Windows, Office, etc.) or ‘buy’ extended — and surely overpriced — ‘support’.

Well, just bin Microsoft already; it is a huge security risk and Free software is capable is serving the public a lot better. It would also create jobs in the UK because people are needed to support these desktops. Surely we can be self-sufficient in the software sense. Britain has got some skilled programmers and it is internationally renowned for its services-based industry. █

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