[KLUG Members] Merrill Lynch: Linux saves money!

[Robert G. Brown]

On 08 Jun 2003 10:24:21 -0400, Adam Williams <adam@morrison-ind.com> wrote:

>>Thought I'd beat Bob to this one.  :-)
>>http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-1014287.html?tag=fd_top
>>Isn't Microsoft always saying that the real money savings is in the
>>people supporting the computers?  Well, Merrill Lynch agrees!  :-)
>Maybe Merrill will buy SCO?
No such luck! :)

>>Quotes from the article:  "It's the people that cost the most"
>Yep.
They represent higher risks, too. They also require constant maintenance.

>>"We've done our numbers, and we are a bank, so we know our numbers"
>>"Keeping their file systems on Windows servers would have cost the
>>company $600,000 in hardware and five times that to pay for the
>>personnel to manage the servers"

>It is interesting that they would have to spend more on hardware to just
>stay at where they are.
Eh? Please explain this.
As Windows progresses (and gets more bloated), and as internal demand for data 
increases, they will have to ramp up the number and size of windows-based
servers. This is something they can avoid if they don't do this, but instead 
go with something that makes more parsimonious use of existing or less 
expensive hardware. That's the background for the 600K saving.

>> FIVE TIMES more for M$ personnel!!!  Interesting!   :-)
Sorry, no one said this in the article; it represents a misreading of the 
text. The phrase "five times that" was not a relative comparison of people
costs between staff costs, but was refering to "$600,000". Merrill pays 
for Windows admins about 3 million all in, at their Manhattan and NJ base
locations. It ought to be noted that the outcome of this study was that ML
wouldsave someting on people costs, not a factor of 5, mostly from lower
headcount.

>Comparing myself to most M$ techies I've worked with,  it isn't even a
>stretch to believe 5x or even greater.  And thats not bragging!  A mole
>can outrun a snail.
I think you're using other criteria to make this sort of comparison. Your
responsibilities are rather far beyond those of the typical (Merrill) IT
admin.

							Regards,
							---> RGB <---