Organizations that place a premium on security often seek out a hardened Linux distro; see "Hardened Linux Puts Hackers EnGarde".
In our poll, just 11 percent said cost was not a factor in deciding to deploy Linux--but only 17 percent said it was the biggest consideration. Most consider price just one facet. In our experience, the most common business argument bandied about for Linux is based on total cost of ownership. The reality, however, is that TCO is not the primary decision-making factor. In almost all large-scale deployments, the overriding consideration has been the more straightforward COA (cost of acquisition), and this trend will likely continue.
Still, that doesn't mean TCO can be ignored. Factors to consider include not only the cost of hardware and software over time, but also the price of administration. A recent Robert Frances Group study, "Total Cost of Ownership for Linux Web Servers in the Enterprise" (see www.rfgonline.com), compared the TCO of Linux, Solaris and Windows and found that a Linux admin, on average, supports four machines for every one managed by his or her Windows counterpart. Patching and updates for IIS versus Apache, for example, accounts for some of this disparity. But even assuming a somewhat higher salary for Linux expertise, administrative savings will add up.
The cost of downtime is also a consideration. The RFG report estimates it as high as $1 million per minute--we wouldn't want to accidentally kick out a plug at one of these companies!--but to ascertain your vulnerability, you must know which applications reside on the servers used to determine cost of downtime. Note also that much of the overhead involved in downtime isn't catastrophic crashes, but routine patching: Almost all the myriad patches, not to mention software installs, for Windows-based systems require reboots, meaning there will be an associated dollar cost. Most patches for Linux, in contrast, don't need a reboot, but require only that the affected process be shut down, patched and restarted, leaving other applications to continue on their merry ways with no interruptions.
Of course, there are cases when a Linux system must be rebooted, or a required patch/upgrade results in application downtime, but this is far less common on Linux than on Windows systems because of the deep integration of almost all Microsoft components throughout its operating system.
TCO calculations also must take into account the cost of software licenses over time. Red Hat's distro was, until the end of 2003, free (as in gratis), but that is no longer true. In fact, pricing of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux line is more closely aligned with Microsoft's model--a subscription-based, per-server, per-year fee. The big difference is that Red Hat doesn't require CALs (client-access licenses), whereas Microsoft makes up for its lower base price by charging for CALs and forcing upgrades to newer versions of its operating system.
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