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Telstra Used Linux To Get Microsoft Discounts

Posted by timothy on from the and-we-encourage-you-to-do-the-same dept.

awful writes "Last year Slashdot ran a story about Australia's largest telco moving to Linux desktops. Turns out it was all a way to get some tasty discounts from Microsoft. The Australian is reporting that Telstra just signed a four-year deal with MS for $AU15-20 million, for 40,000 users. No figures yet on how much of a discount Telstra got, but MS might want to rethink handing back all its cash to investors if this is how they're going to do business from now on ..."

6 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They're paying $500 per user. by challahc · · Score: 5, Informative

    $500 AUD =~ $351 USD
    $125 AUD =~ $87 USD

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  2. Well true it's $500 per user... by atezun · · Score: 5, Informative

    But this isn't just covering Windows Liscenses, It also mentions they're getting exchange 2003 and office 2003 plus they're probably getting quite a nice support package from MS. A copy of windows and office alone is more than $500 in store in Canada which has relatively the same dollar value as the Australian Dollar right now. Make No mistake, they definately got a discount.

  3. Currency conversions by mjtg · · Score: 4, Informative

    For non-Australians in the audience, note that $1-AU ~= $0.70-US. So the cost estimates are around $10.5M - $14M US, or $265.50-$350 US per seat.

    1. Re:Currency conversions by Servo · · Score: 3, Informative

      You got that backwards. If AUD $1 = US $.70, then AUD $10 Million = US $7 Million.

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      A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
  4. Telstra are scum... by Goonie · · Score: 5, Informative

    For the benefit of our American readership, Telstra are Australia's local piece of evil incarnate. They're 51% government owned, so they combine the worst characteristics of rapacious private companies and pig-headed government bureacracy. They price-gouge to an incredible degree on access to the local loop, they deliberately delayed the introduction of DSL services so they could cream more money out of business clients using ISDN (at truly outrageous prices), and deliver shocking service to their customers (ask Bigpond broadband internet customers about the reliability).

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    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
    --Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
    1. Re:Telstra are scum... by Artega+VH · · Score: 3, Informative

      Perhaps I should elaborate..

      Telstra (formerly Telecom) is THE tele-communications company in australia. It is a government owned monopoly, and doesn't hesitate to screw over the little guy to please the shareholders (like any big public company). On top of that it is bureacratic to the extreme(like anything governmental).

      They provide shocking service for both wired telephone - dialup(particularly in regional areas), and for "broadband" - I'm not with Telstra and I still pay 70AU per month for 12gb on cable. Simply because Telstra can price fix the market. The mobile phone market is slightly better, with 3 established companies and a few smaller but growing ones.

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      groklaw, wired and slashdot. The holy trinity of work based time wasting.