This turned out to be really long. Please be nice if you reply, and trim your posts. Dave Sherman <dsherman at real-time.com> wrote: > > Again, right-on. > > Not only that, but people take special training classes to learn how to > drive their car, and must be licensed according to the laws in their > state to prove they are qualified to do so Yes, though you must not forget that there's a big safety issue with cars. You can't just let people drive thousand pound chunks of metal at 70 MPH without some training. It's a lethal object. Needless to say, it's really hard to kill yourself or someone else with a computer (ignoring the whole blunt object aspect ;-) Still, when computers go down or start acting up, there is a cost. It's hard to quantify in a home environment, but broken stuff certainly contributes to stress, and could have an impact on grades if it's being used for school work. In the office, it's somewhat easier to quantify, though most organizations still don't (as far as I know). And when there is nothing to compare with, it doesn't matter. Let's try some imaginary numbers, assuming an organization is attempting the big switch from Windows (we'll imagine 2k Pro or XP Pro): Linux, initial cost: -------------------- New computer $1000 Operating System 0 Office Suite 0 Communication Software 0 Installation cost 50 Training cost: Cost of course 1000 Loss from missed work 800 Total: $2850 For 50 systems: $142,500 Windows, initial cost: ---------------------- New computer $1000 Operating System 250 Office Suite 350 Communication Software 0 Installation cost 50 Training cost 0 Total: $1650 For 50 systems: $82,500 Difference: $60,000 Linux really gets beat up when it comes to training costs. I shouldn't get too much into an analysis of that -- I have no idea what training would really cost. I don't even know if anyone has really set up a course for Linux users (as opposed to administrators or the admin/user middle ground of home users). With this difference in cost, you could probably afford to pay for an extra Windows tech. Conversely, to break even on a transition to Linux, this organization would have to be able to drop a technician or two, or find more value in the IT staff they already have (allowing less-burdened staff to spend more time on other projects, for example). So, we'll assume that this imaginary organization has five people working for it. I apologize in advance if my numbers are way out of line for the real world and offend people. I'm just a student employee, and I have no idea what people are getting paid these days. Anyway, we'll imagine two system administrators at $60,000 each. A web developer pulling in $50,000, and two support techs earning $30,000. Currently, the support technicians spend almost all of their time working on desktop systems, but fill in when one or both of the system administrators are gone. The sysadmins usually just keep watch over the servers, but work with the techs on many issues. They also watch over the network. The web developer is usually squirreled away in his office, but comes out fairly frequently to make sure his web and FTP servers haven't crashed. Assuming that Linux systems can be more efficiently managed, the support techs will be able to handle the whole job of administrating desktops themselves. This would open up the system administrators to just watch over the servers and network, basically ignoring the desktops. With more time to watch over servers, they could take over the web guy's maintenance duties. Another possibility that comes up if the desktops are easier to support is that of dropping one of the support techs. The remaining structure of the IT department would pretty much stay the same as it was before. System admin Windows Linux Linux, 1 Tech ------------ ------- ------- ------------- Server maintenance $30,000 $40,000 $30,000 Network maintenance 15,000 20,000 15,000 Workstation support 15,000 0 15,000 Total $60,000 $60,000 $60,000 Both admins $120,000 $120,000 $120,000 Web developer: -------------- Development $35,000 $50,000 $35,000 Server maintenance 15,000 0 15,000 Total $50,000 $50,000 $50,000 Tech support: ------------- Workstation support $25,000 $25,000 $25,000 Server maintenance 5,000 5,000 5,000 Total $30,000 $30,000 $30,000 Both techs $60,000 $60,000 N/A One year: --------- Total IT pay $230,000 $230,000 $200,000 Total desktop support $90,000 $60,000 $60,000 Desktop TCO $172,500 $202,500 $202,500 Two years: ---------- Total IT pay $460,000 $460,000 $400,000 Total desktop support $180,000 $120,000 $120,000 Desktop TCO $262,500 $262,500 $262,500 Three years: ------------ Total IT pay $690,000 $690,000 $600,000 Total desktop support $270,000 $180,000 $180,000 Desktop TCO $352,000 $322,500 $322,500 Taking the first Linux option, the company would get more value out of its IT staff, thirty thousand dollars a year. Switching to Linux would `pay for itself' in two years, and would save the company money after that. Getting rid of a desktop support tech would have basically the same effect, paying off the initial cost in two years, but it would be more apparent on the bottom line. These seem to be pretty thin margins to me, and obviously, it can all get screwed up for a number of reasons. If the company is using homebrew software, it'd have to be re-written, probably ofsetting the whole mess above. Additionally, people use Windows at home, so new employees won't have to be trained as much to be able to use their computer at work (presumably). It might be good to look at another computer buying cycle, as the initial cost there should end up being lower (no re-training costs), and total cost of ownership would start off on the right foot. But I'm not going to touch that.. Pay someone else to do that ;-) -- _ _ _ _ _ ___ _ _ _ ___ _ _ __ Linux: Just do it. / \/ \(_)| ' // ._\ / - \(_)/ ./| ' /(__ \_||_/|_||_|_\\___/ \_-_/|_|\__\|_|_\ __) [ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088 at tc.umn.edu ] -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://shadowknight.real-time.com/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20011110/2aac9ed8/attachment.pgp