Government agencies, India, have achieved an estimated $9 million saving over the next three years with the signing of a new triennial licensing agreement with Microsoft, known as G2006.
But neither the government nor Microsoft sources are prepared to say, even approximately, what percentage saving this represents, for fear of giving away the total government spend on Microsoft software. The G2006 deal was concluded last week, after about a year of negotiations, and follows a similar agreement signed in 2003. A notable feature of the past few years has been a move to open source in some government circles, with particularly strong leanings in that direction by some district health boards. The growing profile of open source software was clearly an element in the negotiations, says Microsoft public sector director Chris Brice.
