[KLUG Advocacy] Re: TCO Windoze vs Linux

[Bryan J. Smith]

Quoting Mike Williams <knightperson@zuzax.com>:
> By now I think everybody's heard of the Microsoft-commisioned "study" 
> that states that Total Cost of Ownership is lower with Windows servers
> than Linux ones in most roles.  Ignoring the various false assumptions
> that made such a result possible, the main reason they gave for this was
> the relative immaturity of Linux's management tools.  Can somebody who
> knows them comment on this?  I've only worked as an IT person in 
> Microsoft environments, and I can say that while a GUI is nice to have,
> management tools are not all that great on Windows.  Pre Windows 2000 
> they're downright awful.  How bad are Linux tools?  Does it have 
> anything to match the tricks in Active Directory like remapping My 
> Documents to a server share and assigning software packages to be 
> installed as needed on workstations?  For that matter, do those AD 
> tricks actually work as advertised, as I've never used them?

I think the _majority_ of the study was from the standpoint of shops that were
already Windows-based, with Windows desktops and skilled Windows administrators.
 As such, IMHO, the results of the study were very accurate.

Especially in the case where Linux still has a lower TCO in the Internet
services area.  Why?  Because the Internet is still not Windows-centric (at
least not yet).

90% of Linux's "TCO" in this study is in accomodating Windows desktops and
Windows users.  Had the study included UNIX/Linux desktops and workstations, the
results might be quite different.

In fact, I would like to see the study re-done with a full conversion to
UNIX/Linux desktops.  The results would be quite different.

Now for your question ...

The "management" tools depend on what you run for services.  Windows has one
service per need, UNIX/Linux offers many different ones.  But I'm sure the
"equivlent" to ActiveDirectory is found in OpenLDAP.  You can run an OpenLDAP
network, with SASL/Kerberos for authentication, and Samba and NFS for file
sharing, among other things.

But the "integration" of OpenLDAP is not the same as ActiveDirectory in most
Linux distros as of right now.  I'm sure that's what IDC is harping on.  And
especially in the case of "managing" the Windows desktops, which probably
requires some 3rd party software.

But it's getting much better.  As others will tell you, RedHat has shipped 8.0
with a lot of LDAP-enabled services.  It's not quite "there yet," but it's
getting better everyday.  I wouldn't be surprised to see RedHat advertising
RedHat Linux 8.1 Professional as an "enterprise directory and file server" for
$199, c/o better integrated OpenLDAP services and tools by mid-2003.

Now for "good" Windows desktop network management, 3rd party tools are required
no matter what platform your server is.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith, E.I. (BSECE)       Contact Info:  http://thebs.org
[ http://thebs.org/files/resume/BryanJonSmith_certifications.pdf ]
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