[ale] Request for information - how linux saves $$$

[Charles Marcus]

> From: John Wells [mailto:jb at sourceillustrated.com]
> Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 9:57 AM
>
> Here's the deal.  After forwarding this
> (http://news.com.com/2100-1001-949913.html?tag=fd_top)
> article to our location manager, he stopped by and said
> he'd like to take a look at how much we actually could
> save by switching our desktops to Linux.  Now, I'm
> tasked to draw up this comparison and need some help.
>
> I understand there are dramatic savings to be reaped
> from a purchasing standpoint, but what about from a
> conversion standpoint?  I'm not familiar with the way
> the Microsoft licensing scheme works, and one of his
> questions for me was "Well, if we already own 60
> licenses for Win 2000, how will it save us money to
> switch to Linux?".

No *immediate* savings, in this particular case.  The up-front licensing
savings won't be realized until you would have upgraded to WinXP (or .NET,
or whatevers coming next), OfficeXP, etc.

As of Aug 1, if you haven't signed up for their new 'software assurance'
licensing scheme, in order to move up to the desired version, you will have
to buy full retail versions of whatever you are 'upgrading' to (ie, no more
'upgrade' versions/rebates on their s/w).

> Can anyone provide more information?  Anyone out
> there done a cost/benefit analysis for their
> company?

Haven't done one, but some thoughts on points to concentrate on in
developing your report...

Training/retraining.  I don't think this cost is nearly as much as M$ shills
would have us believe, but it is a real issue that you have to consider.  If
you already have Linux proficient people in-house, it shouldn't be much
(beyond their salaries, which are already being paid anyway).  Here, you can
make the argument that, yes, you may have to spend more time up front doing
some training/hand-holding, but once everyone is familiar with the new
systems, support costs will actually go *down* due to the increased
reliability of Linux over Windows.

Also, viruses won't be nearly as big an issue (do *not* tell them that it is
a non-issue, as it is only a matter of time before Linux/Unix viruses start
appearing) - if/when Linux viruses start to appear, they won't be able to
cause nearly as much damage as they can and do on Windows systems.

Implementing LTSP w/s could further decrease support/maintenance costs.

No more costs involved with keeping up with all those licenses (this can be
a big deal in large organizations).

> I *really* want to make this report a stellar,
> persuasive one.  If we switch to Linux at our
> location and really show benefits from the
> conversion, it could easily expand into much of
> the company.  We're talking approx. 6000 employees
> internationally, and approx. 65 locally.
> This is a real chance for a win!

Your location is an ideal situation for an LTSP setup.

Setup a small LTSP network using boot floppies (so you don't have to do a
thing to the workstations), then setup a small demo Linux/Win4Lin/Tarantella
box for the Windows apps, get them installed/working, then just show the
boss.

The LTSP w/s boots up in about 40-50 seconds, and after that, the Windows
session boots up in about 20-30 seconds whenever it is started.  You could
even have an LTSP workstation boot straight into a full-screen Win4Lin
session for any workstations that *only* use the Windows apps.

Be sure to explain to the boss that you'll never need to upgrade the
hardware again (at least, not in the next 5 years or so) - except maybe for
the Server.

You can get really creative and setup some redundant/failover servers to
limit downtime, etc.

These things sell themselves.

Charles


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