Weekly Edition
Return to the Press pageSponsored link
Vyatta –
Linux & Open Source
Alternative to Cisco –
Advanced Routing,
Firewall, VPN, QoS..
Free Download ->
| |||||||||||
Windows PCs vs. X Terminals: A Cost Comparison (Linux Journal)
Salvador Peralta
compares
the long term price of Windows PCs to X terminals in a
Linux Journal article. Here's his conclusion:
"Excluding administrative costs, the 15-year cost of 25 Linux systems in a lab environment is estimated to be $41,359 versus a 15-year cost of $100,000 to $155,000 for Windows PCs serving the same function. Although these estimates are based on rough cost estimates, the overall cost of hardware and software deployment, coupled with the shorter overall time spent on administrative tasks, yields significant cost savings over long-term deployment cycles in our work environment."
(Log in to post comments)
3 problems Posted Sep 30, 2004 18:23 UTC (Thu) by ccyoung (subscriber, #16340) [Link] 1. 15 years? any computer ROI over 3 years is optimistic IMHO.
2. admin costs: waaay lower on X, esp considering rebuilds with virii, etc etc, and other software needed. Admin costs are probably equal first year, but 5x-10x higher for MS each subsequent year.
3. can run X-terms on computers being thrown away in other departments - use standard quad-opteron server - saving very big $$
3 problems Posted Sep 30, 2004 18:57 UTC (Thu) by TheWookie (guest, #14968) [Link]
1. The author isn't suggesting that it takes 15 years to realize the return. The analysis simply shows the total savings over a period of 15 years. There is some savings in licensing costs from year-to-year, and every 3-6 years there is a larger savings because you aren't replacing desktop PCs. Also, the initial investment is roughly the same, so you aren't really waiting for the savings to kick in - you were going to spend that money either way.
2. I don't disagree, but I think the author has a good idea on the admin costs already. The author is writing based on past experience of maintaining both X terminals and desktop PCs.
3. Their cost estimates for server replacement in the X terminal solution were about $2000 every other year for hardware. It sounds like they would just have two servers, each being replaced every 4 years on a staggered schedule. Wouldn't a quad-opteron be a bit of overkill?
Also, I think that the software cost estimate might be wrong for the X solution. I think the $50/year per server should be there for every year, not every 4 years.
Windows PCs vs. X Terminals: A Cost Comparison (Linux Journal) Posted Sep 30, 2004 18:57 UTC (Thu) by Baylink (subscriber, #755) [Link] And using used NCD Xterminals bought on eBay drops the price even lower.
Anyone got a VNCserver that will run on that hardware? Or knows enough to cross-compile it?
Windows PCs vs. X Terminals: A Cost Comparison (Linux Journal) Posted Sep 30, 2004 19:27 UTC (Thu) by southey (subscriber, #9466) [Link] The fair comparison with the Linux solution would be running a Windowsserver. There was no mention of backups surely backing up two computers would be less time and money than 25 of them.
Windows PCs vs. X Terminals: A Cost Comparison (Linux Journal) Posted Oct 1, 2004 12:14 UTC (Fri) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link] The fair comparison with the Linux solution would be running a Windows server. Wouldn't that make the Windows solution even more expensive? ;-)
|
|||||||||||