LinuxWorld: Seeing Through the Linux-Windows TCO Comparisons

[ Thanks to Joe
Barr for this link. ]

“As happy as I am to see something finally displace the disgrace
that TPC-C ‘benchmarks’ have become over the years, the new
favorite faux-analytical geegaw that Microsoft’s marketing droids
are giggling over isn’t any better. I think you know what I’m
talking about: it starts with a T, ends with an ‘Oh!’ and spells
trouble right here in River City. That’s Austin, dude. Texas.

“On the face of it, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) sounds like it
should be a valuable tool to project cost-estimates of various
software solutions. There is certainly truth to the notion that
purchase-price alone doesn’t determine total cost. The problems
with published TCO studies begin and end with the fact that their
allure is only skin-deep.

“For one thing, TCO is like fine wine: it doesn’t travel well.
What may be true in one situation is reversed in another. What gets
trumpeted as a universal truth (‘Windows is cheaper than Linux’)
may or may not be true in a specific case, but it is most certainly
false when claimed universally…”

Complete
Story