Joshua

by Paul Thurrott, News Editor, thurrott@windowsitpro.com

An interesting mindshare war has been raging in the IT sector for
the past few years. Open-source software (OSS) backers have been
claiming that Linux is more stable and secure than Windows, whereas
Microsoft and its camp argue the opposite. Oh, and by the way, Windows
is just as inexpensive as Linux when you factor in the training and
total lifetime costs, Microsoft says.
This argument has always been particularly amusing to me. My stance,
which shouldn't be construed as the opinion of a supposed Microsoft-
backer, is that Linux simply hasn't been tested in the real world
enough for any claims to be made about its reliability, security, or
long-term cost, especially when compared with Windows, the most-widely
deployed enterprise OS.
In the past, Microsoft and its supporters have pointed to numerous
studies that prove its point. But OSS backers have always argued that
those studies were funded in part by Microsoft or even represented some
sort of collusion between Microsoft and the companies performing the
studies.
We can only wonder what these OSS proponents are going to complain
about this time. In a recent independent study performed by Yankee
Group, Microsoft's Windows OSs were found to offer equivalent or better
total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits when compared with enterprise
Linux products. In the study, 88 percent of surveyed business and
enterprise customers reported that the performance and reliability of
Windows Server was equal to or better than that of Linux. And even the
security rating of Windows Server among these customers, 7.6 out of 10,
was comparable to Linux's 8.3 score. Most important perhaps is that the
7.6 score was double last year's security score.
Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio, who has come under fire by Linux
backers who claim that Microsoft backed the survey, noted that
Microsoft has made "significant" steps in improving security and patch
management on the Windows platform in just the past year. "Yankee Group
paid entirely for the survey," she said, defending the results. "We use
an independent survey house." The Yankee Group survey, she said,
included executives at more than 500 companies.
One interesting aspect of the survey's conclusions concerns the
factors that differentiate server OSs. Linux, UNIX, and Windows
customers are mostly satisfied with their systems' baseline performance
and reliability. The primary factors influencing TCO, therefore, are
the cost, development time, and difficulty of deploying applications
and services on the various platforms. Here, of course, Windows shines,
and that system's high TCO score reflects its prowess.
As far as competition goes, most of Linux's success has come at the
expense of proprietary UNIX, Yankee Group says, and not Windows.
However, Linux use is still growing, especially in infrastructure-type
services, email, and Web serving, Yankee Group noted.

__________________
The Apexer formerly known as SnotRocket.

"Like I ****ing said, "Ok, so I hear it may be a repost. Blah But I had never seen it, so..." **** you Canta." -Jenny 12/4/2003

shocky123

All of these studies are crap
Nobody can do a fair study on OS stability or TCO or whatever. Satisfaction? maybe... but you'd need to survey like 1,000,000 business' before I'd listen to it. Cuz last time I checked the majority of these survey's are given to your average computer user who's stuck on the Windows bandwagon. but w/e it's my opinion. hehe

~Kyle

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"5. When your friend dates a woman that is absolutely terrible for him, and she's wrecking his life, it's your duty to openly hate her, and point out how evil she is." -ialsohaveadream

navyones

Windows will come out on top for many years to come. The simple fact is that people do not like change. Most people have learned all of their computer skills on Windows.

While Linux is pretty decent to work with, it is definitely something different.

Jeffbx

Heh - that's only like the 3rd or 4th similar study that's found the same thing. I know it seems incredible, but Windows IS a very stable, secure operating system with a lower TCO than open source. NUMEROUS studies are showing the same thing - even ones NOT sponsored by MS.

These aren't all surveys, either. They're studing response time from the manufacturers, ability to get support, security of the OS, availability of patches, availibility of professionals familiar with the technology, ability of the mfr to respond to vulnerabilities, etc. It's all very solid evidence.