Thank Microsoft for all the "savings"

Microsoft appears to have just practiced what it internally calls “Project Marshall”, better known to many as "MOU". This is a strategy which Microsoft uses to exclude competition from government contracts and it is arguably illegal. There was very scarce coverage of this in the press (such deals are intended to be kept largely secret), so we could only find this one article.

THE federal Government hopes to save at least $15 million per annum over four years through a new whole-of-government arrangement with Microsoft Australia.

The chorus here is similar to the one from Microsoft and BECTA [1, 2]. They only crow about how much they "save", not how much of taxpayers' money is spent on a convicted monopolist that further ties up national assets to itself. Australia is far from the only victim of such tactics, which may sometimes be assisted by shells like the Gates Foundation. ⬆