Re: [tlug] Eating bugs...

[Jonathan Q <jq@example.com>]

My favorite part of the article is this one:

=====
A recent Microsoft-sponsored study by researcher IDC concluded that
servers based on Microsoft's Windows 2000 were cheaper to own and
operate when used for networking, storing and sharing files, printing and
security, while Linux servers were cheaper to operate when used for Web hosting. 
=====

Now, we have one server on our office network.  It runs Linux, and functions
as our MX, gateway/firewall/internal DNS, and provides Samba services,
including printing, to our internal network.  It does not, at this time, act as
a web server.

Let's break down the costs:

First, hardware.  This would be the same whether we were running
Windows or Linux, so it doesn't enter the picture.

Next, software licensing.  If we did this on the cheap and
used XP Professional, the license would be (off-the-cuff guess,
I don't follow MS pricing closely) $250 or so (?).  If we used
Free Software for mail, DNS, database & webserver when the
time comes, that $250 would be the total initial cost of our
software investment.

What about running cost?  If we assume that we'll never use paid
MS support or take out a support contract with MS, there will
be no running costs associated with basing our server on Windows,
except possibly for occassional OS upgrades.  Let's be generous
to MS and assume we only have to buy an OS upgrade every three
years, for $150.  Over 9 years, then, the total software cost of running
Windows on our server will be $700.  Remember, I'm being as generous
as possible to MS here.  In reality, our costs would probably be somewhat
higher.

Now, let's look at the Linux case.

Initial cost of the software: About $2, for the CDROM blanks I burned
it onto.  Heck, that didn't even cost the company anything.  They were
my CDROMs that I used for the install.  But I'll be generous to MS and
call the initial cost $2.

OK, now for the running costs.  It breaks down like this: cost of
OS upgrades: $0.  Cost of support: 0$.

The total cost of our Linux software over 9 years: $2.

Personnel costs:  We have one sysadmin who also works as a
sales engineer (me).  If we were running Windows on our server,
we would also have one sysadmin, who would also likely work as
a sales engineer.  The personnel cost of operating the server is
equal for both platforms.

The IDC study claims Linux is cheaper when used as a web server. I
don't know how I could get the 9-year total cost any lower than two
dollars, but maybe I should set up Apache and see what happens :-)

Jonathan
-- 
Jonathan Q
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