[plug] ex-Government PCs or the like

[Nathan D]

At 02:17 PM 24/09/2002 +0800, Patrick Tehvand wrote:
>Does anyone know where or how the government or fleet purchases get rid of
>thier old pc's?
>
>More to the point I am looking for a source of low cost relativly low spec
>desktops to buy for an additional classroom at the school in East Timor that
>I assised earlier this year.
>
>I think something around the PII 300 - 350 mark would be good (and that is 
>the
>spec i think govt will be getting rid of)
>
>Any ideas?

At a recent IT info session my govt. dept. advised us that we are making 
the move from Win 95 and Office 97 to WinXP and Office XP, and a lot of 
machines will require upgrading to be compatible for the roll out.  I 
believe it is policy for all machines to go straight to Ross's Salvage and 
sales will not be considered because of the work involved in cleaning, 
preparing, etc machines for disposal.  Having said that, I will keep my 
eyes and ears open.... just in case.

A lot of emphasis was put on licensing issues at the above session, so as a 
good employee I mentioned the merits of OpenOffice as an M$ 
replacement.  The IT manager clearly did not want to discuss this option, 
and apart from not appearing to know much about it (ie not compatible with 
MS, problems sharing with other depts.), the main reason for going XP is 
because MS is the driving force "quote" i.e. steamroller "unquote" in 
software.

I am trying to shed some light on those in the dark, but it is an uphill 
battle from a person outside of the IT dept.


regards,
   Nathan

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