Did Microsoft undercut open source in Brum?

Microsoft has insisted it did not slash its software prices to encourage Birmingham City Council to abort its Linux project.

Birmingham pulled the plug on its open source desktop project after it found an upgrade to Windows XP was cheaper. The city council had planned to roll out 1,500 Linux PCs across its libraries but in the end converted just 200 PCs.

Industry experts have suggested Microsoft offered Birmingham special discounts to sway the balance in favour of XP. But Microsoft firmly denied these allegations. Asked whether Microsoft had offered special discounts to Birmingham, Nick McGrath, head of platform strategy said: "No, not all. We are in discussions with every single local authority. There is a common buying framework."

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McGrath added: "The decision was very much taken by Birmingham."

Birmingham City Council is slightly less clear on this point. When asked whether the council managed to get a better deal from Microsoft as a result of its trial, IT chief Glyn Evans said: "We did not seek a better deal from Microsoft nor was that an objective [stated or unstated] of the project." However, Evans didn't state whether any discount had been received.

Many observers have claimed Microsoft offers inducements to local authorities to stay with Windows if they show a willingness to switch to open source.

Laurent Lachal, senior analyst at Ovum, said: "Microsoft is going out of its way to lower prices to get deals. If it lowers it to the point where it makes no sense to deploy open source, then it is a good deal for the organisation."

Bob Griffiths, international secretary at Socitm, the association for public sector IT professionals which supported the Birmingham project through the Open Source Academy, acknowledged Microsoft had been "involved in negotiations" with the council. He said he was unsure whether Birmingham had gained an advantage through its Linux pilot in bargaining with Microsoft but added that other councils had successfully used that tactic.

Griffiths said: "I'm not sure that's the case with them. But other authorities have claimed advantages."

The London Borough of Newham has been the focus of such suggestions after it reverted to Windows in 2004 after trialling Linux, although it denies the allegations.

Richard Thurston writes for ZDNet UK