Toolkit

Story: It's time vendors ate their own penguin food

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The problem with the Gartner figures regarding Linux on the desktop is that they have applied the use of Linux under a traditional Windows desktop deployment model. Of course the traditional model of Windows desktop deployment (with acutal software installed on each computer) is expensive to run whether it's Windows or Linux and fails to take into account the powerful elements of the Linux environment.

For example, simply switching to a Terminal-Server model of deployment and significantly cutting down on the number of desktops that must have software maintained on them would offer consisderable savings for starters. Deploying this model is simple with prerolled districutions like LTSP (www.ltsp.org) already available. Even better, Windows applications that can't easily be replaced can be served up from a dedicated Windows server allowing access to these applications from a Linux desktop.

While Gartner is keen to look authorative in their report, the numbers only add up if you stick to the traditional Windows desktop model. Linux doesn't just offer the opportunity to use suitable cheaper software, it also offers the opportunity to reconsider how you deploy you desktops and offers flexibility along with considerable savings.

PS. Windows Client Server and Linux Client Servers can't really be compared. Windows CS models have so many limitations that they are unweiled to deploy, while Linux CS offers a flexibility unrealized by many Windows sys-admins.

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