Intel & Amazon.com moving towards Linux....

[Dr Mordrid]

Intel story;

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7716320.html?tag=mn_hd

Amazon.com;

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7720536.html?tag=mn_hd

Given Microsofts recent moves into predatory licensing costs Linux may have a real opening as companies search for ways to their IT costs.

Most interesting quote;

======
"People are looking at Linux as a replacement for Windows," said Robert Frances Group analyst Chad Robinson. "Not that people are switching en masse, but many corporations are exploring that area,"....."The potential for cost savings there is huge," Robinson said.

Microsoft representatives could not be reached for comment.
======

I bet

Dr. Mordrid

[isochar]

You fail to give both sides of the coin, quoted from the same article:

Nonetheless, using Linux is not much cheaper than Windows 2000. Although Linux as an operating system is free, the real costs are related to the computers, support and maintenance, Busch said.

[Dr Mordrid]

Costs is costs my friend. They come out of the budget and contribute to red ink if you don't control them.

Basic Economics 101 says that if you can drop hardware, support and maintenance costs those reflect in the lowering of IT personnel costs as well.

Lower personnel costs and you lower expendatures relate to salaries, benefits, employment taxes, unemployment and workers compensation insurance, office space & equipment, heating & cooling etc. etc. etc.

It just keeps on compounding 'til soon you're saving a lot of very real money....

Dr. Mordrid

[isochar]

You can run a "no business" model and your operating costs will be 0.

[Gurm]

'Course when it DOES break, you have to call in smug, self-aggrandizing geeks with a false sense of superiority to fix it - at $250/hr.

Whoops! Just spent all that money we saved, since it took the geeks a week to rebuild our network.

- Gurm

[cbman]

No No No... it would take them a week at 250 Dollars an hour just to find a comfortable chair and decide on a comfortable position and to work from.

[TnT]

Re: Intel & Amazon.com moving towards Linux....

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Microsoft representatives could not be reached for comment.
======

I bet

Well, when XP was released they were every where giving comments

Doesn't it cost the same for some guy to come in and fix Linux servers as it does for fixing a Win2K server? So you'll still save money.

[isochar]

I'm under the impression that it's more difficult to fix Linux problems due to the limited amount of corporate support.

[Wombat]

isochar,
I don't think that is true at all. There are companies whose entire business model is based on being hired to fix/improve Linux and other open-source initiatives. I believe cygwin is one of them.

If you have a problem with a closed-source product, you're often SOL. You do little upgrade dances and hope that your problem goes away. If not, then you can only guess at the problem and beg that it is fixed by someone far up your supply chain.

[isochar]

It also has to do with how many people are trained to support the product. The sheer number of MCSE certified technicians will make support faster (and thus cheaper) for Microsoft based products.

[kewlcat]

Originally posted by isochar
It also has to do with how many people are trained to support the product. The sheer number of MCSE certified technicians will make support faster (and thus cheaper) for Microsoft based products.

Quantity != Quality

To paraphrase the Amazon article:

Quantity(Lin_support) < Quantity(Win_support)
Quality(Lin_support) > Quality (Win_support)
Price(Lin_support) > Price(Win_support) --- (1)

Since Quality(Win_support) < Quality(Lin_support),
Hours(Win_support) > Hours(Lin_support) ---(2)

If Supp_cost = (Hours)(Price), from (1) and (2) we get:
Supp_cost(Lin_support) ~ Supp_cost (Win_support) ---(3)

License(Linux) << License(Windows) ---(4)

TCO = License + Cost
Therefore, from (3) and (4),

TCO(Linux) < TCO(Windows)

QED!



Disclaimer: The author of the above proof likes Linux, and is a computer scientist, not a mathematician. Also, the proof may not hold true for all situations and the author bears no responsibility for any business decisions or terrorist actions based upon this proof.

[Wombat]

The sheer number of MCSEs is a meaningless statistic. A lot of technologically clueless people have MCSE certification.

[isochar]

Well, when IT departments look for someone to fix their network, do you think they know any better?

[cbman]

Speaking about certification...

I have a friend who has his "Networking Degree" MCSE and somthing about UNIX

I told him I am using 1 Foot Patch Cables on my Bench going from my hub to the PC's I am working on.

He said that it shouldn't be possible for that to work because of the limitations of cable length... Something about Attenuation Killing the Signal Quality to the point where Data Gets Corrupted in the foot of space due to the limited amount of twisting in the cable over such a short space... "Impossible, It can't work" he tells me... LOL...

Oh well... it still works for me at the shop... maybe I have special cables

[TnT]

I think the only thing keeping most people from getting those "certifications" is $$$.

I was able to take two semesters of Cisco Certified Network Associates in High School for free. Now I have 2 years to get the next two semesters, but there is no way I can, because I don't have ~1800