HAHA
>>So, 6030 staff with computers, eh? I'll bite ... With a typical four year hardware cycle, you're purchasing upwards of 1600 machines per year (planned obsolescence + unplanned attrition), and you don't have the ability to negotiate with one of many OEMs willing to produce bare-hardware systems? That's how I do it. Works fine.<<
Buddy, a few years back I worked with Tyco International. That's a multi-billion dollar company with around 200'000 staff and nearly double that in systems. Even with that much clout, the only barebones systems we could get were "greybox" systems - IE, non-branded, non-support-contracted crap. Now Dell, HP and the others are often called crap as well, but it's crap I can get replacement parts for today when it falls over (which is rare even for Dell).
>>As for your software, frankly the lack of planning for the future on the part of your IT department is hardly my issue. How much money, exactly, does it cost you in retraining and purchasing new software every time Microsoft rolls a major rev on Windows?<<
Well, given we use SA to keep our version level wherever we want it, and SCCM to manage patches and rollouts; that value is easy to figure. Zero. Zilcho. Nada. Far less than our couple of Linux and Unix systems; which require updates more frequently than Madonna drops her pants.
>>Yes, I have told multim^hbillion dollar corporations (even a couple Fortune 50s) "I don't use toy software anymore". Strangely, even without the Microsoft related work, I made more money in the first half of this year than I did in the first half of last year ... and spent fewer hours doing it!<<
Well, good luck telling that to a company that relies of manufacturing or IC design. Better yet, lets hear about some of those companies you've chummed up to as a consultant - surely they would be a glorious example of how Microsoft lost the day.