OSDL and San Mateo, California-based Linux management specialist Levanta have published a new study of more than 200 end users that challenges the conclusions of previous Microsoft-sponsored analyst reports.
The survey, carried out by EMA, looks at Linux management from a number of areas, including provisioning, patch management, configuration management, problem resolution, support, resource costs, and consulting costs.
According to Levanta and the OSDL, the results indicate that recent surveys put forward by Microsoft as part of its Get the Facts campaign are out of date.
A Meta Group study put forward by Microsoft in June last year had indicated that Windows was significantly ahead of Linux in terms of deployment and configuration time and patch management, while a Yankee report published in September indicated that recovery time and patch management were issues for Linux.
According to the EMA report, more than half of all respondents can provision a new Linux server in less than an hour, with 20% doing so in less than 20 minutes, while for those already using ‘sophisticated’ Linux management tools such as Levanta’s Intrepid M or CA Inc’s Unicenter, 75% took less than one hour and 35% under 20 minutes.
The report also found that 49% of all respondents and 58% of sophisticated tools users were able to provision a Linux server with its applications in less than one hour, while half of all respondents and 61% of sophisticated tools users spend less than five minutes per server per week on patch management.
Overall the report found that 88% of businesses questioned stated that they expend less effort managing Linux than Windows, while 97% stated that it was at least the same for both operating systems.
EMA’s research and analysis has found that average resource costs for Linux are no longer significantly higher than for Windows, concluded the research firm. The effort required to manage Linux systems, especially where sophisticated management tools are used, is of minimal concern when considering the overall TCO of Linux systems.
In many cases, Linux is likely to be a significantly less expensive platform to acquire and maintain than Windows, it added. The full report is freely available from Levanta.
