For example, I'm looking at a TCO report here that compares Windows
vs. Linux costs. To me the most telling cost is that Linux required
about $1600 per year per server in salary to administer a Linux
server, vs. $6800 per year per server for a Windows server. I can
only speculate that the cost per year for Mac OS X would be _lower_
than the Linux figure.
Aparajita,
Another thing to consider in TCO reports is what "administer" means. If
these are actually servers that are running many applications/services
do those costs take into account the time to administer not simply "the
machine" but the applications/services it serves? For example a server
that is running as an NFS, DNS, BDC, Web, FTP, Print Server and/or one
of the dozens of other things that servers normally do.
For pure 4D servers, the TCO difference may not be quite as large.
With 4D Server the general wisdom has been that it isn't a good idea to
run it on a server that is doing other "serving". Even though I run 4D
Server on Windows boxes that have Win 2K or Win 2003 server installed,
most if not all of the "server" stuff is turned off. When I ran server
on NT Workstation, most of the other stuff was turned off too. A lot of
4D developers I've talked to typically relate similar experiences
regardless of platform. The problem is that 4D is a CPU hog and doesn't
co-exist well when run alongside a lot of other applications. Has this
changed recently?
Based on my personal experience is that when 4D is involved, and
non-essential services are turned off, a great deal of "administration"
isn't really required. So when administerting a "4D" server, I'll admit
the cost will be higher for Windows, but when compared to a Mac,
probably not $5K+ a year more. FWIW, the thought of running a web server
on Windows (not Active4D, but IIS or Apache) scares me.
As I mentioned before, and based on reports that the Mac is catching up
performance-wise, using "what you know" might be the best advice.
BTW, Is there a link to that TCO report? It sounds like an interesting read.
best,
-- Brad Perkins
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