Thufir <hawat.thufir@xxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:04:41 -0400, Simon Templar wrote:
>
>> It matters for places like schools that are on a tight budget. But for a
>> company the cost of a Windows license every 5 years (which they buy in
>> bulk anyway) is diddly-squat compared to the salary they pay employees.
>> They'd save more by switching to cheaper brand of coffee in the kitchen.
>
> I think there are many hidden costs -- for instance, the annoyance of
> malware (never mind the tools to remove it). I was about to argue that
> given a sufficient number of Linux users there would be plenty of room
> for commercial apps to duke it out on a level playing field to the
> benefit of all -- but then considered the google office apps.
>
> I can't imagine a situation where commercial application software for
> Linux would be competitive and lucrative because either the GPL version
> is or would displace the commercial version, or some other model, like
> google office running over the web, would change the rules.
>
> However, there's an enormous hidden cost in the lost opportunities from
> being stuck with Windows because the applications are written only for
> Windows because Windows is what's installed, and being locked into a
> specific application.
>
>
Many of the costs are not all that well hidden. One of the many
problems is that large companies pay OEMs which already have a licence
deal, and then have their own licence deal as well, so most large
companies pay not once, but twice, for their Windows licences. Of
course, then you have to factor the amazing costs of all the
applications and the servers which go with them; just exhange and
outlook alone can come into millions, *and* you're paying per user as
well as for the package, too.
Then, of course, being Microsoft, the servers need to be rebooted
regularly, so you need to pay babysitters for that. And, of course, you
need lots of machines to do things the Microsoft way, so your
electricity and cooling bills are huge, which is a disaster for your
green footprint.
We haven't even started on the horrific costs of Office yet,
particularly when you consider that there are perfectly good free Office
suites out there.
And then, finally, as you say, their is the appalling costs of trying to
keep all those machines secure, free of trojans, malware, viruses and
whatever else is doing the rounds this week.
Microsoft is for victims with huge budgets to waste.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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