On Thu, 15 Nov 2001, Frank Shute wrote:
People following this thread might be interested to read a page on the DTI's web site that states: an "undertaking" means any entity which is engaged in economic activities. It does not have to be profit-making so long as the activity carried out is one which in principle has commercial competitors. Charities, universities, research institutions and voluntary entities may be caught within the meaning of "undertaking" if they carry out economic activities. The concept of "undertaking" embraces public sector as well as private sector entities. Now, the NHS "in principle" has commercial competitors in the form of private health-care providers, doesn't it? This would lend credence to an argument that the NHS *is* an undertaking, full stop. I have e-mailed the DTI asking for clarification of the above paragraph. Very much a case of `gotcha'. The OFT is arguing against what the DTI states in black & white is the case. I agree with Nigel regards submitting it to Slashdot. The Register is also worth considering - they quite enjoy bashing MS and the government in no particular order. First it's best to wait for a response from the OFT and then perhaps write it up and mirror it on a few sites or otherwise the one-site will get `slashdotted'. Happy to use my site for the purposes.
OK. By the way, I tried to send you (Frank) the full texts as you
requested, but got a mail delivery failure back from