The majority of businesses would not reduce IT costs by
migrating their Windows desktop platforms to Linux on the desktop,
analyst firm Gartner has warned.
Although the open source operating system has had success in the
server market in reducing costs, migrating PC desktops to Linux
makes sense in only a limited range of situations, said David
Smith, vice-president and Gartner fellow.
"Many servers are dedicated to running a single application; in
many cases, it has been relatively easy for enterprises to replace
specific servers, such as a web server, and implement Linux," Smith
said.
"However, the environment for Linux on the desktop is significantly
different. Knowledge workers use PCs to run diverse combinations of
applications. For those users, migration costs will be high because
all Windows applications must be replaced or rewritten."
A Linux migration should be considered only if there are relatively
few applications in use and those applications are fixed-function
or low-function, such as data entry, call centre or bank
teller/platform automation, he said.
Before any migration plan is implemented, it is imperative that
businesses gain a full understanding of the total cost of
ownership, said Michael Silver, vice-president and research
director at Gartner.
"Understanding the current and the expected Linux total costs of
ownership can help an enterprise to determine the estimated
migration savings," he said.
"When calculating such costs it is important to realise that the
cost of the PC and client operating system represents only a small
part of the total cost of ownership - generally 20% to 30% - and
other costs such as labour, training and external services must be
considered."
Companies should also compare the costs and savings of a move to
Linux with the costs and savings of upgrading to a newer version of
Windows, Silver said.
"The total cost of ownership of Windows 95 is relatively high and
increasing because support from Microsoft has been eliminated and
support from independent software suppliers and other third-parties
continues to wane.
"Enterprises running Windows 95 will likely see more benefits by a
move to Linux than will enterprises using Windows 2000 or Windows
XP. Windows 2000 and XP include more modern technology than Windows
95 and are generally more stable and incur lower costs," Silver
said.
Linux more expensive, says Microsoft
Creating and maintaining a custom web-based application with
Java and Linux is almost 40% more expensive than using Microsoft's
software, according to a Microsoft-commissioned report from
Forrester Research.
The report, based on a snapshot of 12 IT departments, estimated
the cost of building custom Java 2 Enterprise Edition and .net
applications within large and medium-sized organisations.
Forrester found a huge gap in software maintenance costs
incurred by the two approaches, largely because of the price
difference between the BEA and Oracle software that Forrester
compared with VisualStudio.net and Microsoft SQL Server.