1 Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), a very popular buzzword representing how much it actually costs to own a PC or other hardware. The TCO includes:
- Original cost of the computer and software
- Hardware and software upgrades
- Maintenance
- Technical support
- Training
Most estimates place the TCO at about 3 to 4 times the actual purchase cost of the PC. The TCO has become a rallying cry for companies supporting network computers. They claim that not only are network computers less expensive to purchase, but the TCO is also much less because network computers can be centrally administered and upgraded. Backers of conventional PCs, especially Microsoft and Intel, have countered with Zero Administration for Windows (ZAW), which they claim will also significantly reduce TCO.
2 See generally Lanny J. Davis, Don A. Allen, Terry Bowman, and Joseph Armstrong, A User's Guide To Computer Contracting and Strategies (Englewood Cliff, NJ Prentice Hall Law and Business, 1984 p. 16 (hereinafter referred to as "Davis et al.").
3 See Davis et al., at 17-20.
4 Davis et al., at 22-24.
5 See generally. Steven Kelman, Federal Procurement and Public Management: The Fear of Discretion and the Quality of Government Performance (Washington. D.C.: The American Enterprise Institute Press, 1990), ch. 4.
6 See Kelman, Procurement and Public Management.
7 See Note 1.
8 See Tom Little. "Information Technology Relationships," Court Technology Bulletin, 7:4 (1995).
9 See Gilbert Held. "Picking a Winner", Info World Direct (a supplement to InfoWorld. 1995).
10 If the issuing court desires the Uniform Commercial Code's powerful implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for purpose, this statement of purpose is a very important feature of the RFP.
11 When a problem isn't solved within the prescribed time, the customer can call the engineer's supervisor. The supervisor's supervisor, etc., until the problem is solved.
12 To avoid the implied warranties the "exclusion must be by a writing and conspicuous."
