MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-03-25 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Yankee Independently Pits Windows TCO vs. Linux TCO
|
Interesting but very generic and flawed study..
Some ponts valid while other dubious
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Yankee Independently Pits Windows TCO vs. Linux TCO
By Mary Jo Foley
In one of the first non-Microsoft-funded total-cost-of-ownership studies by
a major market-research firm, Windows still comes on strong.
On the heels of several Microsoft-sponsored studies evaluating the total
cost of ownership (TCO) of Windows vs. Linux, The Yankee Group has performed
its own independent research on the same topic. And the findings are
somewhat similar: Linux provides smaller companies with customized vertical
applications or who have no legacy networks with better TCO than Windows.
But for the vast majority of customers - and especially those that are
already Windows shops - Windows still offers better TCO value, according to
the Yankee/Sunbelt Software study, which is due to be published this week.
Yankee surveyed 1,000 IT administrators and "C-level" executives worldwide
over the Web. The researchers then followed up with many of the participants
via in-depth phone question-and-answer sessions, according to Laura DiDio,
the senior researcher and primary analyst on the study.
"Corporate customers report Linux does indeed provide businesses with
excellent performance, reliability, ease of use and security," said DiDio in
her executive summary. But "hype notwithstanding, Linux' technical merits
while first-rate, are equivalent but not superior to Unix and Windows Server
2003.
"And in large enterprises, a significant Linux deployment or total switch
from Windows to Linux, would be three to four times more expensive and take
three times as long to deploy as an upgrade from one version of Windows to
newer Windows releases," the study found.
In terms of TCO trade-offs, "there's a clear bifurcation between the high
and low ends of the market," DiDio said. Nonetheless, "everyone has a Linux
strategy...even if it is just to use Linux as a stone to throw at
Microsoft."
The study found that despite the growing number of accounts of companies
reevaluating Windows as a result of security concerns or other issues, most
large enterprises will stick with their current Windows (or Unix) operating
systems and not switch to Linux.
Yankee found that four percent of Unix customers and eleven percent of
Windows businesses plan to replace all of their servers with Linux. And less
than five percent of organizations will replace their Windows desktops with
Linux.
As other researchers who have compared Windows and Linux TCO have
ascertained, "Linux is most assuredly not free," the Yankee study found - "a
fact that corporations now begin to realize."
All of the major Linux vendors and distributors including Hewlett-Packard,
IBM, Novell and Red Hat "have begun charging hefty premiums for must-have
items like technical service and support, product warranties and licensing
indemnification," the study found.
"It's beginning to look a lot like, well Windows," DiDio quipped.
Finally: A Non-Microsoft-Funded Study
The Yankee/Sunbelt study is hardly the first Windows vs. Linux TCO study.
But it is one of the first by a major market-research outfit that was not
funded by the Redmond software giant. Jupiter Research, Forrester Research
and International Data Corp., among others, have done TCO studies at
Microsoft's request and with its financial backing.
These Microsoft-funded TCO studies have become the crux of Microsoft's
anti-Linux campaign, known as "Get the Facts." Microsoft officials said they
have funded these studies because analysts didn't see the need to do them on
their own.
Regarding Yankee's study, DiDio said "We did this because it needed to be
done. Many of our customers say they need some unbiased, objective data."
Other key findings from the Yankee/Sunbelt study include:
To date, most of the defections to Linux are coming at the expense of
mid-range Unix systems and not Windows.
The majority (54 percent of respondents) said, they will leave their Windows
server intact, though 25 percent reported they will migrate "a portion" of
their Windows servers to Linux for specialized application tasks.
The chief allure of Linux at this point is not surprisingly the fact that
many customers like the idea of "free" licenses. Some 30 percent said they
feel Linux is more reliable than Windows and 31 percent said they feel Linux
is more secure than Windows, while another 29 percent expressed fears of
being locked into an "all Microsoft environment."
A majority of large enterprises with 5,000+ end users said they will not
install Linux as their primary server OS in the foreseeable future because
it is much more expensive and requires from 25% to 40% more Full Time
Equivalent (FTE) support specialists than Windows or Unix for that matter.
Within 24 months, the Yankee Group projects that businesses will expend as
much time, money and resources securing their Linux systems and servers as
they now devote to Windows security.
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