Software licences

I hate paying money for software, I am sure that you do to.  If we can have it for free then why pay for it?  We all want things that you have to pay for, for free. And that is where open source software comes in handy. Open source software is software which is free to distribute and free to use.  The only limitation is that you cannot sell it (Which since you could get it for free, kinda negates that fact).

So why am I bringing it up here?  Well, years ago I came across this news story from the BBC about how local governments were wasting million in not using this service.  It could save them MILLIONS as the title says.  Save them millions from where, though. How can it save them this much money?  Is it from hardware or is it from the software?  Well there is only one way to find out. Let's asked them!

I asked all councils in Wales the three simple questions:

1. How much money the council spends on software licences annually.

2. Reports into any investigations the council has made into the use of freeware \ open source alternative on their IT systems.

3. Reports into any investigations into the use of the central government cloud system..

Very comprehensive list if you don't mind me saying.  I also asked the Welsh Assembly Government these questions to, simply because they manager our money and it is interesting to see how this organisation  works for us.  

As an aside I also asked London Councils what they spent on the same amount.  The reasons for this is simple...  I misread the blurb at the top about what they are and thought that I was boxing clever by making one email to all london councils.  However there is no such thing as a waisted answer and their answer has provided me with some interesting insight.

The answers I got back were interesting to say the least. The thing that I was most interested in was when Merthyr Tydfil asked me twice where they would be able to get this information from (I assume that this was an accident…  At least I REALLY hope so!  In case you're wondering, I stated that they should check with the finance department and IT...).  

Now here is how much they spent on software licences:

Name	Cost	G Cloud	Freeware
Blaenau	Not Answered
Bridgend	1281853	No	Yes
Caerphilly	Not Answered
Cardiff	Not Answered
Carmarthenshire	397000	No	No
Ceredigion	Not Answered
Conway	Not Answered
Denbighshire	Not Answered
Flintshire	632476.96	No	No
Gwynedd	Not Answered
Anglesey	775024	Yes	Yes
Merthyr Tydfil	Not Accurate	No	No
Monmouth	Microsoft
Neath Port Talbot	Not Answered
Newport	1.1 million	No	No
Pembroke	Not Answered
Powys	Not able to find	Have use	Do use
RCT	Not Answered
Swansea	1.9 million	yes	Yes

The interesting thing is that a few of them have looked into using the government's G cloud and into the use of freeware (A big shout out goes here to Bridgend purely because they gave me a very detailed list of what they have used, using and planning to use).  Not only that it is interesting to see that most of the councils (That got back in touch at time of writing) have not looked into the G Cloud. Why not and for those of them that did why didn't they use it?  Will have to ask for a copy of the report that they made into this.

That is where the London Councils becomes more interesting.  As you can see, they DID do a report into this.  So, what do next?  Ask for a copy of it!  Why do I want a copy of it?  To send to the others!  And also to see what they did not accept it.  It goes back to that point about why do councils do what they do.

Now the reasons that I am interested in this is purely a money saving issues.   All local councils are under strain at the moment. The more money that they can save the better.  So the next question is why are they not the “G cloud” is more expensive?  Only time (And more FoI requests) will tell.