Linux costs evaluated

["Drews, Jonathan*" <DrewsJ@cder.fda.gov>]

Marc Andreessen: "Linux Has Matured"
EXCERPT:
Business Week has published an interview with 'Web pioneer' Marc Andreessen,
cofounder of popular Netscape web browser and new software maker OpWare,
discussing his current company's decision to manage Linux enterprise
systems. 

Q: Is Linux saving anyone real money? I ask because you clearly can save on
hardware, but licenses from open-source companies such as Red Hat (RHAT )
aren't cheap. And now that you can run Sun on Intel hardware is there any
real savings? 

A: Most of the studies that show Linux is not cheaper have been funded by
the old vendors. You'll typically find an analyst study that was paid for by
Sun or Microsoft (MSFT ). That's compromised research. 

What the customers will tell us, and I am not in the business of selling
hardware or operating systems, is that they're saving a lot of money. Morgan
Stanley has an 80-20 rule. That rule goes like this: They're replacing 80%
of their Sun system with Intel boxes for 20% of the cost. Now that means
they need to manage lots of boxes, and they may need more people for that,
but they still feel they're saving a lot of money. 
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2004/tc20040330_9468_tc167
.htm
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