http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-938700.html Linux desktop should take on MS
Red Hat is warming to the use of the Linux operating system on desktop computers, a difficult market where customers are picky and Microsoft is the leader. ... Price persuasion But there's room for competition. For example, a company with 10,000 employees using computers only for basic tasks could buy a single copy of Linux for $49, compared with Windows XP, which would cost somewhere around $2 million, Kusnetzky said. That's a lot cheaper, even factoring in the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars for in-house support of the Linux systems. Microsoft disagrees. "While we have seen an increase in interest in Linux on desktops, customers who have done rigorous evaluations are overwhelmingly telling us that Linux's total cost of ownership is considerably higher, and the business value is lower than Windows," Peter Houston, senior director of Microsoft's Windows Server Group, said in a statement. "Key factors included the cost of desktop management, retraining costs and availability of applications." (How the heck does Microsoft get these numbers!?)
