A few things:
1. MS is expiring all non-Win2000 MCSE certificates. Remember that you have
to retrain on MS every few years, because they keep changing things. With
Linux, it's like Unix, there may be slight changes, but fundamentally, once
you learn to administer it, you can keep that knowledge.
2. MS next-gen will probably require new HW (since they do that with each new
release). Linux continues to run well on older hardware. This is a direct
cost-savings.
3. Linux can be easily administered remotely. Thus, the admins for the Linux
solution don't need to come in to fix most things, and that allows him to look
for people who are not in commuting distance for doing admin work. Also, I've
noticed that MS requires MORE admins than Linux. So, even if the individual
admins are more expensive, you need less of them (be careful with this
argument, emphasize that you don't need to hire more admins, not that you
could fire the ones you have).
4. Does he know how secure his systems are? Remember, with MS you can't see
the source-code, you don't know the holes (until they are exposed). With
Linux, you know exactly what's running, and why, and can delete anything you
don't want. This, BTW, especially goes for filtering SW (ALL the packages out
there keep there block-lists private "to prevent the people being blocked from
knowing it," which is incredibly stupid, since most of the folks who are
supposed to be blocked know it, and probably buy a copy to check. The only
one's who don't know are people who shouldn't be blocked, but are. The other
reason given "to prevent people from figuring out how to get around it" is
equally stupid - those who want to get around it will, as all copy-protection
gets broken. Thus, the only people who really are hurt are the system admins,
who find out that they've given their control over to some faceless entity
carte-blanche. Sorry for the digression, but I really hate this stuff). You
can remind him that, with such tools as Junkbuster, he can build his own
blocking list, and he will KNOW who's blocked, and why.
5. I'd ask why he thought it would be hard for the current staff to learn
Linux. Has he asked? Are they interested in learning something new? I
personally find that, while Linux does have some learning curve, because of
the modular nature, it's actually fairly easy to learn because you can do it
in pieces.
6. Linux is true multi-user. You can actually have Xterms out there (old
computers running nothing but stripped down Linux & X), with all work being
done on the server. Using tools like rsync and rdist, you can blast new
images to the Xterms, so if anyone cracks them, the image gets overwritten.
Since everything's on the server, it's easy to back up, audit, and manage.
7. Has he considered that, with Linux, it makes an ideal tool for teaching
about OS's BECAUSE you can see the source code (you didn't say if it was a
college or lower level school, but I'm assuming the lower level one). This
could be good for an AP computer science class.
Just some quick thoughts. HTH.
jeff
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Jeffry Smith Technical Sales Consultant Mission Critical Linux
[EMAIL PROTECTED] phone:603.930.9739 fax:978.446.9470
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Thought for today: despew /d*-spyoo'/ v.
[Usenet] To automatically generate
a large amount of garbage to the net, esp. from an automated
posting program gone wild. See ARMM.
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