[aklug] Re: MS wipes out Linux installation for savings

--- On Mon, 1/19/09, jonr@destar.net <jonr@destar.net> wrote:

> Listening to M$ FUD is like watching a movie inspired by a true story,
> i.e. My grandmother fell down the stairs and broke her hip. So I was
> inspired to write a movie about two dogs and a cat traveling over
> the Rockies.

I've always liked the phrase "based on actual events." The events don't even have to have anything to do with one another. I was once a teenager, I saw a hitchhiker on the side of the highway last summer... let's write a story about teenagers being terrorized by a hitchhiker!

Back to the article, that's just standard procedure for Msoft. They try to take credit for anything positive that occurred between the moment Swiss adopted Linux and the present day. I don't have the data to even pretend I know the actual costs of ownership, but it seems to me that, done correctly, switching to free software would have a high initial cost (training, consulting, possibly a few new pieces of hardware), followed by low ongoing costs (minimal/no licensing fees, reduced downtime.) The reasons Swiss saw any benefits were (a) updating their servers, and (b) replacing a dozen slackers in their IT department with three people who actually know what they're doing. (Then again, maybe they're not slackers, but hard-working people trying to run a modern network with fifteen-year-old computers.)

As you can see from the third excerpt:
"Replicating the consolidation in the content management portion of the solution should triple the savings to $600,000 per year, he estimates. And the savings will grow."
MS even wants to claim credit for *future* savings that may never be realized.

I agree with Murphy's closing statement: use Linux because you believe it'll suit your company's needs better, or because you want the security and flexibility of a *NIX environment, not because you'll save a few grand in licensing fees. And for Bob's sake, train your employees to use the new system. Whether you're going from mac to Windows, Windows to Red Hat, or WinNT to WinXP, your cost savings will never materialize if employee productivity crashes.

--
Aaron A.
akbeancounter@yahoo.com
      
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