Microsoft wares may be UK public sector's only viable option

Debate Not for the first time, Microsoft is in the spotlight for the UK government's money it voraciously consumes – apparently £1.9 billion a year in software licensing, and roughly £9 billion over five years. Not surprisingly, there are plenty of voices challenging whether this is good use of public money. After all, aren't there plenty of open source alternatives?

It's not that straightforward. There are two key factors at play.

Are the alternatives truly viable and comparable?

Technologists will often advocate for open source or even bespoke solutions. Yet the public sector hasn't had a great history of avoiding the big tech brands. NHSmail, prior to its current reliance on Microsoft tools, demonstrated some of the issues – including the cost of support, managing upgrades, and delivering new features and compatibility.

Open source also comes with a range of less measurable costs – training, over-engineering, reliability, security ...