[clue-talk] The reason MS is winning against Linux?

[Grant Johnson]

Kevin Cullis wrote:

> Take a read:
>
> http://www.mcpmag.com/features/article.asp?EditorialsID=539
>
> But they forget the "after the sale" perspective of FOSS: you own it 
> and  don't have to call in ONLY MS to make improvements!!
>
> What say all you Linux types?
>
My reply to his article, if it ever posts:

I think you have missed one of the major cost points.   You addressed 
the fact that licensing is a very small portion of the total cost.   
This is true, and a good point.   You also mentioned that if you have en 
existing application, it is expensive to redo this on a new platform in 
your SharePoint example.

You have missed some major points, though.   Manpower is the single 
largest expense.  Although Linux administrators are generally more 
expensive per head, because of the nature of the operating system, such 
as the ease of applying patches, scriptable everything, and reduced 
number and frequency of issues not initiated by an administrator change, 
a Linux admin can handle more machines.   Initial set up takes more time 
on a Linux machine than on Windows, but not a lot.  Ongoing maintenance 
is less.

Add this to the fact that for most tasks, Linux on the same hardware can 
accomodate more concurrent users, and we have a different look of things.

For existing applications, which are working, it is almost always best 
to leave them on the platform they are on.  This is regardless of 
operating system.

For new applications, or new installations, it normally depends more on 
what applications are available for the operating system than the 
operating system itself.  

The nature of the load and usage paterns are also very important.  
Single threaded application throughput can be better on Windows, but as 
there is contention placed on resources, especially disk and CPU 
contention, Linux will often prevail.

My real point:   A hammer is not a screwdriver.   Check things out 
carefully.  There is no best platform which works best for every 
application.
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