I've listened to the arguements (if thats what they are) about the NHS MS deal. I suspect that right now they represent good value for money. I would, however, have concers about locking into such an agreement - or ending up with an expensive 'buy out' scheme. I am sure that many on this list are familiar with MS deal for schools - the 40ukp deal per station for Office/Publisher/VStudio/Encarta suites. It typically represents good value for money if you intend keeping your software base up to date. However - I do strongly object to counting 'every' PC regardless or not of whether it is going to run any MS products. It may not be a big issue at the moment but it does make the cost savings of switching to linux (for some stations) a non event as I still have to count those machines in paying for the MS licence. I can't see how the Office of Fair Trading can really allow this deal - but Microsoft are certainly getting away with it. -- Alan Davies Head of Computing Birkenhead School