Re: Linux is ten times the price of Microsoft.

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: David Wright (david_c_wright_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 12/10/04 

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 10:38:00 +0100

Jeff_Relf wrote:

>
> Hi David_Wright and Andrew_DeFaria ( ¿ K-Unit ),
>
> To this from me: << The common man/woman is not about to reprogram Linux
> just so he/she can display the family photo album. Open source... ha !
> >>
>
> You replied: << I run a consultancy
> and manage a mixture of Windows and Linux clients.
> I have never had to compile a package under Linux,
> you are talking about the early days,
> today there is little or no need to recompile packages for yourself
> if you are using a mainstream distro... Unless you want to.
> The TCO argument is usually down to the fact that
> MS funded reports say that it is cheaper to administer
> a network of Windows machines than a network of Linux machines
> ( and many of the comparisons are laughable ). >>
>
> You don't sound like the common man/woman to me
> ( who, by the way, wouldn't know a TCO from a TKO ).

No, I'm probably not, having worked as an Programmer, Analyst, Consultant,
Project and Contract Manager for 15 years for one of the top 5 IT services
firms worldwide before moving to Germany and starting on my own.

I've worked on machines from humble 8080 microprocessor boards with a
hex-keypad and 8 digit LED readout to big-iron from the likes of IBM, ICL,
HP and DEC.

I've been a Windows developer since v2.0, I've also programmed for the Mac
and Amiga. I've not done any real programming on Linux until now.

> How much do you pay to support your Linux boxen ?
> ( Don't forget to count the time you put into it )

For November, including upgrading 4 machines to SuSE 9.2, probably around 5
hours total administration (myself). I have never used any paid third party
support; I have asked a couple of questions in this AOLS group.

For the same period, I had to install Windows 2000 for a project,
reconfigure IIS on 2 machines install SQL Server 2000 and configure, and
trace a problems with IIS, SQL Server and InterDev not talking to each
other, plus patch and AV management... That worked out around 18 hours for
2 machines.

> How often are you delving into the source code on your distro ?

Never. I've been running SuSE since version 8.0, originally as servers, and
lately as workstations as well... During that time (more than 2 years), I
have never loaded a single source package onto the machine, let alone
compiled it. That's why I use distro's like SuSE, Fedora and RH. If I
wanted to mess around with the source code, I'd build an optimised system
using something like Gentoo, but I just don't have the time or the need at
the moment.

I am not a religious user of Linux. I use Linux because it does what I need
effectively. I still use Windows for some tasks - and because my customers
do. I use the tools that suit me best. I just find that Linux is more
stable and requires less tinkering than Windows most of the time, it
doesn't run Windows viruses and displays HTML e-mails as source code until
I click on a button to say that I trust the code and want to view it
formatted (whoever invented HTML and scripted e-mail should be shot IMHO).

If Windows did the same tasks more efficiently and more cost effectively,
then I'd use Windows for those tasks. If I found another operating system
which did the tasks better than Linux and has software which I need (either
the relevant server processes; or for the desktop, applications which let
me read documents and e-mails sent from Windows and Linux platforms) then I
would switch to that.

I like the Open Source concepts, but if a closed source package will allow
me to do the job quicker and cheaper, I'll probably use that instead. For
me it is about tools. I choose the right tool for the current job and I
take the best quality tool I can find/afford.

Dave

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