David Krider wrote:
Sure we run Office. Almost all companies do. Did you think we leave the Unix users high and dry on that issue? Of course not. We're currently using Citrix servers (with their extra cost) and ALREADY OWN all the licenses we need for Office, and every other Windows application we need.
You still have to count that cost. If I bought 3 years of RHEN, and paid for all 3 years now, when I compare RHEL vs/ M$ next year is RHEN free?
You're barking up the wrong tree here. Microsoft already extracted their blood from this company. (Hey, no one asked me.) When the laid down their ludicrous new licensing scheme, we bought into it. Now when we pay for a license of Windows or Office, we're basically renting it, and can run the latest version as we see fit. So I *am* comparing all the costs, it's just that we, as a "big" company, have already paid those costs.
If you swutch to RHEL, then you won't be paying thos M$ costs. I don't think Red Hat is targeting large M$ shops for a few systems. They are looking for full migration and migrating Unix shops.
So it's not cheaper for the 12 machines you want. But what if you were moving half the machines? Compating the per machine costs in the way you are now doesn't work. What if I had 1200 RHEL machines and was looking to move/add 12 M$ systems. How would the cost per machine compare then?
Note that I'm not saying that's fair to Red Hat, but those are the facts for MOST of their target customers with Enterprise Linux. (Who else is
I think you've missed Red Hat's target customers.
Well, there's no arguing about this point. It's just that I can't understand the strategy, I guess. If we're not the sort of target market that Red Hat is thinking of selling Enterprise Linux to, who is?
Give them some time. What was it, 2 years ago, when there was only one Red Hat product? Now they have AS, ES, EW, and RHL (the home one).
ES/EW were added because AS was too much for a lot of places, but RHL wasn't enough. Give a little time they will find something between EW and RHL.
-Thomas
