Showing that low cost hardware with opensource software can be be both effective and cost friendly

[Nadav Har'El]

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010, Boris shtrasman wrote about "Showing that low cost hardware with opensource software can be be both effective and cost friendly":
> Hello,
> 
> In the second time at my college that  I'm going to show that while it
> custom that enterprises use closed software,
> Using opensource solution not only can cost less or the same but the
> maintenance will cost much less.

I'm afraid it wasn't clear (at least to me) what was actually your *question*
among all the details you sent.

If I understand correctly, you tried to prove that using free software
has a lower TCO (total cost of ownership). If this is so, how is knowing
whether TAU uses Linux or not relevant? Maybe TAU chose whatever they chose
for other reasons? And chose for what - for servers, for faculty workstations,
for student workstations? There are different criteria and costs involved in
each.

> Last time when I showed that TAU and Technoin used open source I was told
> that they are going to loose it (don't know how much of it is true).And
> since I didn't contacted the facilities I was caught off guard.

What does "using open source" mean? The Technion uses open source a lot -
including Linux machines, Apache servers, and what have you - but it also
uses closed source a lot - including Windows machines, proprietary mail
servers and file servers, and so on ad nauseum. You need to be more specific
in your interests, and try to understand if and why it uses a certain
solution for a certain purpose. But beware that very often, reasons are
historical, traditional or personal - and not necessarily involving accurate
cost estimates or even a centralized decision.

> It was after we was obilgated to sed(*) the websites to use them using
> firefox/konqueror/opera etc.. (vbs on client side/ broken js etc). This time
> it is after usage of streaming product (streamitup.com)  that dosn't work in
> FF/Konqueror/opera/chrome on Linux (there is a plugin for chrome on
> windows).

Again, I'm not sure I even understood what your question is...

> The issue is that  I wish to get the product I'm paying for without doing
> pro-bono work for the firm.

So don't buy broken products - isn't that a simple enough criterion?
If more people didn't buy server products that only work on IE (and don't
work on Firefox, Iphone, and who knows what else) maybe these companies
will finally fix up their act.

Nadav.


-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |      Thursday, Apr 22 2010, 8 Iyyar 5770
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |I considered atheism but there weren't
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |enough holidays.