• Access to all available Microsoft technology with important price reductions. Also important reductions in the operation of information systems to automatize administrative tasks. 
• No commitment by the Generalitat to buy and no obligation of minimal purchase of resources or products.
• Creation of an Centre of Excellence in the Centre de Telecomunicacions i Tecnologies de la Informació (CTTI) with experts from Microsoft for know-how and better practices for all departments in the government.
• The creation of a service for software control and permanent support, together with a training programme for the Generalitat’s staff.
• The purchase of Microsoft software and services will be by subscription.
• Rights for the transmission of licenses between the different departments of the Generalitat.

At first sight, it seems like a good agreement, for there is no apparent obligation to buy Microsoft software or services. However, the fact of signing this agreement with just one company, which is the biggest provider of software in the world and has a near-monopoly of computer systems with its Windows makes it very difficult to believe that this is not de facto a contract to buy software and services from this company for four years. If the Generalitat is thinking seriously of saving money in the mid-long term, it should start thinking and planning the transfer to open source software. This software is free, the money then should be spent in installation, development, training and support: Installation of the Linux system and open source applications; development of applications tailored to the needs of the Catalan administration; training/recycling of the administration staff to the new system and applications; and support of the administration in the use of these open source applications. It is difficult to say how much this would cost, but I reckon in the mid-long term the cost will be much less than having Microsoft monopolizing our IT systems; furthermore open source systems are in many cases much more flexible than one-size-fit-all Microsoft software and services.

So I wonder if the Generalitat (or particularly the CTTI) is thinking of making this step. It might be useful to start evaluating the German experiences (federal and the land Rhineland-Palatinates) in this sense.