On Tue, Oct 30, 2001 at 10:21:23PM -0600, Bob Tanner wrote: > http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011030/tc/tech_intel_napster_dc_2.html > > "In any case, using Linux is not much cheaper than Windows 2000. > Although Linux as an operating system is free, the real costs are > related to the computers, and support and maintenance, he said." I think you can probably argue it either way. Windows vs Slackware Yeah, Windows TCO will probably be cheaper. It takes someone with some know-how to recompile packages and troubleshoot upgrades. Windows vs Mandrake/Redhat/SuSe While I haven't tried up2date yet, I figure the maintanance cost is similar here because of the amount of work that still goes into maintaining an RPM based system. Windows vs Debian Debian hands down. Debian handles all the upgrade hassles for you as far as figuring out what package depends on what other packages. Nate