Re: [tlug] Eating bugs...

[Stuart Bouyer <stuart_bouyer@example.com>]

On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:10:58 +0700
Jonathan Q <jq@example.com> wrote:

> 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. =====
<deletia> 
>
> 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 :-)
> 

If you read the original MS sponsored article you notice that personnel
costs were where most of the costs came from. The article focused on a
company already using MS products, the costs came from "training" their
MS orientated staff in using Linux and related software. The of course
used the most costly training available.

If I remember correctly there was something about RedHat support - like
when you buy RedHat you get 90 days support, so they kept adding the
cost of buying the disto so that they were continually covered.

Also included were costs of training all the users to use linux (who of
course were happily using MS at home so of course they had no problem
using it at work - amazingly there were no Mac users in the office!)

All in all an amazing article that shows the FUD that can be generated
by statistics and number crunching if you generate the right
"conditions". As my math teacher used to say - "You can prove anything
with statistics - as long as choose the correct numbers and the correct
questions".

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