Microsoft: Thanks, Linux

[Mntsnow]

Is Linus Torvalds secretly working for Microsoft? That sounds crazy until you consider that lately, the free operating system he created, Linux, has been helping Microsoft close deals.

Consider the deal that Microsoft snagged with the London borough of Newham, announced in early August. Looking to overhaul their computer systems, the Brits originally planned to dump Microsoft's Windows and switch to open-source programs, including Linux. But when they commissioned a study to evaluate costs, they found it would be cheaper to stick with Windows. So they signed on for a 10-year deal.
Read more at Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/home/enterprisetech/2004/08/31/cz_dl_0831msft.html)

[a Bill]

I don't think the writer of this article has a clue. He's completely lost.

[mholtum]

Says Enderle: "Linus Torvalds has probably been a bigger asset to Microsoft than Bill Gates, and I doubt he'll even get the opportunity to spend the night in Bill's house."


All you can really say is "huh".

[Shyguy]

All I can say is that the entire article seems almost too biased towards M$, I like this part,

"How could "free" Linux cost more than Windows? First of all, Red Hat (nasdaq: RHAT - news - people ), the leading Linux distributor, now charges $799 to $2,499 for each server running Linux. That's not for the software, mind you, but for "maintenance." Semantics aside, you're paying for Linux"

Yeah I like how they use One example of one of the dozens upon dozens of versions of linux out there, & of course they use one of teh most expensive to prove their point.

later on they go to sya this,

"Which raises a few questions: First, how long will it take Linux to catch up with Windows in terms of features, device driver support and breadth of applications?

Torvalds' Linux kernel (the core of the operating system) is 13 years old. Other parts of the operating system are even older. Even if Linux does catch up, will it matter? If the Linux camp simply manages to create an operating system that does roughly what Windows does for roughly the same price, what will be the point?"

Even though I have had little exprience with Linux, the versions Ive tried have had many of the same features of Windows, & Support wasn't that bad, also more & more applications are coming out that is compatible with both OS's, & yeah in some cases driver support can be improved but same goes for Windows too.

Also I don't give a rats a** about how long Torvald's kernel has been around versus Windows, what really matters besides support & all the other crap mentioned is its stability, reliability & Security, which IMO Linux has surpassed Windows in a Looooooong Time ago.

I just got sick of reading it about half way through cause it seemed too biased, but read through anyways to see what other BS they had to say. I really feel bad for those who got duped on this one. I mean I use M$ everyday, but if there was more support for Linux, not that there isn't or anything, but just more better support in teh way of more compatible software (mainly the games I play) & If I would take the time to learn Linux, I'd use it more than M$ for my everyday needs (E-mail, IM, Browsing, Photo/graphics editing stuff, Music, Video, etc), & just use M$ for gaming.

Oops, Looks like I had a bit too much to say, Sorry!!!:D

[ThRoNkA]

Pure rubish here!

[BBA]

I can tell you we pay an arm and a leg to run unix at my work,,,to the tune of millions per year for each server.

I know it's not linux...but geez....

[a Bill]

You might pay for service contracts but not for Linux. I think I gold contract with Sun is around $100K per server per year if it's a high end server. Redhat charges a few thousand per server.

But you don't have to pay. You can do the work yourself and save that money. You can't do that with MS software.

[BBA]

The Sun contract just for my servers is two million per year (about 5 servers) and the HP contract is about twice that.

At least with HP and IBM wintel servers you buy the server and it comes with 3 years service and support and only cost about 30K each, loaded out.

[a Bill]

You're getting hosed.