My mother works in the NHS, and a while back made use of the deal the NHS has/had with MS, much like the student deals they had, the NHS staff could get massively reduced downloads/dvds of windows and office.

Now with budget cuts etc, shes received an email saying that the NHS hasnt renewed the deal with MS, and any staff that purchased the software must uninstall it.

To me this strikes me as a bit "wrong". Surely the deal is that you pay the money for windows or office that has been agreed upon between NHS and MS, and then thats your copy. Its not a subscription service or anything. What about people who just bought their copies, they wont be getting value for money or anything like that.

I sincerely hope that any staff that did buy the software keep it installed.

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/nhs/pages/licensing/post_ea_hup.aspx

They wont block the keys. 100% gaurentee.

Tell her to ignore the message from the NHS.

It depends on what deal she had.
Microsoft do volume licensing where the company can install any OS & any office package upto X number of machines.
Usually you pay a monthly or yearly fee for this.. but it works out good as you can jump from one upgrade to another
without the hassle.

Shaun, I can only assume your wife works for a different NHS trust to Zpyders?
Each NHS Trust pretty much manages themselves & their own budget.

Open office works fine and is free so why bother with the MS stuff ?

Linux works fine and is free too...sometimes it just helps to have the same software as your employer, and to keep up to date with where everything is so that youre not left behind when you start a new job somewhere which uses the software that 99% of places use...

It doesnt give a reason why.

Ok i think it could be:

MS cuts a deal with the NHS and allocates x number of units over x period. (think lower prices)
NHS pulls out of the contract.
MS tells them to notify their users that products must be uninstalled.

Thats all i can think of.

OO is on shaky ground at the moment, since Oracle bought Sun and has now effectively axed OpenSolaris.

Well dad just told me when he turned the computer on just now they had a "windows is not genuine" message...looks like MS has deactivated the keys already.