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<http://www.linuxinsider.com/perl/story/33013.html>

|Maronda Homes made a technology decision few builders would ever dare make:
|The home builder bet its computing future on Linux .
|
|For the uninitiated, Linux is an alternative operating system commonly
|referred to as "open source" that's developed by an extended community of
|programmers worldwide. The idea behind open source is that a broader group
|of programmers will produce a more useful and bug-free product for the
|general public, since more people review and improve the code. Most of
|Linux's commercial success is as a low-cost alternative for database and
|application server systems.
|
|Pittsburgh-based Maronda Homes now runs desktop applications on its 550 PCs
|with OpenOffice, Linux software downloaded off the Web from
|www.openoffice.org. Maronda is also using commercial server software from
|Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT) on its AS/400 mid-range server to manage its
|networked applications. The move has saved Maronda in excess of $300,000 on
|annual licensing fees for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Office and server
|maintenance costs.
[...]
|Three Factors
|
| Piccolo says Maronda's decision to use Linux was based on three major
|factors. First, Maronda can download OpenOffice for free. (The annual
|subscription fee for Maronda to stay up to date on Microsoft Office for its
|550 PCs is now $207,000.)
|
|Second, using OpenOffice eliminates licensing concerns. Piccolo says
|managing software licenses for more than 500 PCs was cumbersome. When a
|hard drive failed, he needed to reload the operating system and wasn't
|always sure if the license on the CD he was loading was current.
|
|Finally, companies that run OpenOffice and open-source software are much
|less vulnerable to attacks from hackers than companies that depend solely
|on Microsoft applications. Many of the major e-mail viruses and hacker
|attacks are aimed at Microsoft applications
[...]
|Here are the savings Piccolo estimates from switching to OpenOffice and
|running Linux on the server:
|
|$207,000 for annual license fee for Microsoft Office update
|$109,000 annually to maintain PC servers
|
|$600 per new PC for Microsoft Office
|$100 per new PC for Windows XP
|
|$100 per PC on Windows XP upgrades on existing PCs. As of now, Maronda is
|running OpenOffice over Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system. Piccolo
|says that the company plans to move all its PCs to a Red Hat desktop
|operating system in 2004.

before Erik and Milo jump all over me, they are converting completely to
Linux on all their desktops this year... they've just decided to do it in
stages by using the ms-windows version of OpenOffice first.

Quite the most sensible way to do things.

- --
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover.
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On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 17:33:32 GMT, paul cooke
<paul_cooke@linux_NO_SPAM_mail.org> wrote:


Excellent article Paul!

This is EXACTLY the type of real world, SPECIFIC example of what actual
savings can be realized by moving to Linux.

Many of the articles I read don't quote actual prices, or numbers or
even system types like AS/400 for example.

IMHO the AS/400 world is ripe for Linux because they are literally
EVERYWHERE.

Everything from mom and pop operations to large glass houses are using
AS/400's and the savings in moving toward Linux can be very real.

flatfish+++

flatfish+++ wrote:

The last time I visited my local corner shop I didn't notice any AS four
hundreds. Maybe it's different in Florida

Would you recommend current Windows users to move to Linux ?

flatfish+++ wrote:

You can buy AS/400s running Linux.
--
mathew@NOSPAMspiesareus.yi.org
GPG key ID: AF8D205A (subkeys.pgp.net)

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 07:41:42 +1100, mathew <me@privacy.net> wrote:


I know that

I was talking about real world examples of businesses that are using
them and what the actual numbers in savings are.

flatfish+++

On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 13:46:02 -0500, flatfish+++
<flatfish@linuxmail.org> wrote:
Yes, that's great. A saving of ~ $2.25 per head per business day. Now
if your average user spends only five(*) more minutes a day, compared
to the old systems, learning / setting up / customizing the new stuff,
converting / fixing / verifying existing files etc, the great savings
turns into a net loss...

(*) assuming you value your user's time at around $30 per hour. If the
550 users were $300 per hour lawyers, the company would start losing
money starting from 30 seconds per day spent "playing" with the new
toys.

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On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 08:50:27 +0100,
~~~ <~~~@>> wrote:

you carefully skirt around the hours they lose under Windows, to service
pack screwups, viruses, trojans and other malware.

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--
Jim Richardson http://www.eskimo.com/~warlock
Step by step, day by day, machine by machine, the penguins march forward.

~~~ wrote:

You naturally haven't excluded the time needed to maintain virus scanners,
hunt for viruses etc, did you?
Or the time needed to find all those Office options which moved from Menu A
to Menu C, but to make up for that now under a different name

You assume a great many things, me thinks
For example that no new things have to be learned when using windows.

--
Windows was created to keep stupid people away from UNIX."
**--*Tom*Christiansen

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~~~ wrote:

joe average user has enough problems finding where everything is and what
the gotchas are when they upgrade from one version of ms-windows software
to another.

Their move to Linux gets them off the MS treadmill licensing plan leaving
them with the one off cost of moving to Linux and saving them from all the
hassle of constantly having to worry about keeping their AV sigs up to
date. AV sigs are only effective after the event, there's always some poor
customer whose been hit by the new one before the new sig gets distributed.
Could you risk it being /your/ business that gets hit in the first few
hours of an outbreak with a new infection vector???

- --
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover.
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On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 08:50:27 +0100, ~~~ <~~~@> wrote:

Do you think Windows sets itself up?
What about spy ware hunters?
Antivirus programs?
Popup blockers?

And all the other crap needed to semi-lock down a workstation?
Updating and running them is a PITA and even if done several times a day
does not guarantee a safe system.

As for setting Linux up, yes it will take time the first time but then
it's easier than Windows to administer.

flatfish+++

flatfish+++ wrote:

This is flatfish in his current 'nice' incarnation. Veering between the
moderate Linux enthusiast and a raving looney.

- quote -
"Some of you wouldn't know humor if it hit you on top of your pointy
heads!"

"this kind of stuff is very similar to our rights to privacy being
violated under the 'Patriot Act'"

"Unlike some of the mindless drones around here"

"Just because Linux is superior, and I believe it is, does not mean it
will be a success story"

Yet another example of a Linux advocate unable to address the points of
the message.
- unquote -

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 08:50:27 +0100, ~~~ <~~~@> wrote:

Hit the nail right on the head.

It's nice to occasionally see a post that has some insight as opposed
to the nonsense posted by the Linux advocates. That's the problem
with adopting a pre-disposed attitude to something - you have to make
yourself look stupid by disregarding obvious facts in order to support
a biased view. The Linux advocates in c.o.l.a. do this every day.

Of course some of them are just genuinely stupid.