Dear Jo, Kenny and Angus (cc'ing the Deparmental Computing list because of our discussions today), We have pricing through from Wolfram for the next "Comprehensive Deal". If I put these figures into a spreadsheet and assume that we keep the same number of licenses but have them all as Network Licenses, then the figures are as attached. I think that this is a reasonable approach as generally people want more licenses and were planning to increase the numbers however that would be more than compensated for by us moving to roaming licenses. Wolfram are quoting a figure of £13,782.50 for a departmental licenses. At the Departmental Computing Meeting this lunchtime there was much feeling that as a department we should have a license if it is at all possible and that it did rather make us look bad when people come here from elsewhere. John Conway expressed that it would be very useful for academics producing teaching material as they have nice tools for animations etc. I have also had undergraduates asking about it. Basically, is now the time for us to buy a departmental license? With some deal being made between the Department and the groups who already use it (and those would like to) etc. I suspect that the answer is that it is - even though I hate the idea after all that has happened with Wolfram. The only downside that I can see is that the departmental license would have to be negotiated every year as things currently stand, whereas the Comprehensive agreement is fixed for three years. I could ask if we can fix this for three years which I suspect that they might be willing to do. We need to make this decision quite quickly as the current agreement expires over the summer. Note that all prices are ex-VAT. Any thoughts would be welcome. Best, david