| Making the business case for Desktop Linux |
Aug. 02, 2004
InfoWorld examines the business case for Desktop Linux. With IDC projecting that by 2007 Linux will have about 6 percent of the desktop market, corporate users are finding that open source software can -- and does -- have a role in the enterprise, writes Robert McMillan of IDG News Service.
McMillan looks at some key deployments that have occurred over the past several months, and speaks with companies which have made the move to Linux for cost savings, greater security, and manageability reasons.
McMillan profiles the experience of the Incubator Club, a group of system integrators in England led by Eddie Bleasdale. Members of Bleasdale's organization are "engaged in pilot projects and even some large-scale Linux migrations, which could collectively total as many as 200,000 desktops," McMillan writes. According to the article, Bleasdale recommends that with a long-term approach, the move to Linux offers significant benefits. Bleasdale is quoted as saying, "Your objective should be that, over a period of years, you should be able to reduce your costs of computing by 50 percent."
How good does Linux have to be? The article quotes Codeweavers CEO Jeremy White as saying, "Even if Linux were a drop-dead, perfectly compatible, just-as-good replacement for Windows, you wouldn't find a lot of people switching," . . . "You have to not just be good enough; you have to be compellingly different to take over the world."
According to McMillan's article, titled "Business case for desktop Linux," that day may be well on its way.
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