British Educational Computing and Telecommunications Agency) did a
multi-year study on the use of Linux desktops and open source software.
They used four schools as case studies and they found that the schools
saved between 20% to 75% on the total cost of ownership, which included
the costs of hardware, software, licensing, training and support. They
regularly found that support needs dropped since Linux has a better
security model. The cost comparisons included the initial cost for
training the technical support staff.
I've found the same savings for libraries that have switched over. For
example, Howard County Public Libraries in Maryland have switched over
to Ubuntu and the support staff now has many more computers to support
(they are able to buy desktops for $249 a piece instead of the previous
cost of $649 - so they are buying two and a half times more) and the
time needed to support the equipment has dropped so much that they've
been able to spend more time finding out what the staff and community
wants and creating new programs rather than wiping viruses off systems.
You should also look to the Indiana schools - they're ACCESS program has
been a huge success - with each school switching to open source, they
find that ALL of the neighboring schools want to switch as soon as
possible - they're having trouble keeping up with demand.
In this time of economic troubles, schools really need to make every
dollar count!
On Tue, 2009-02-17 at 14:19 -0500, TJ Rainsford wrote:
> There is something to be said for the Linux route but it does not
> necessarily save you money unless you have the technical expertise to
> support it. While it may reduce the initial costs, it may cost you more in
> operational costs over the long term unless you have the internal capacity
> to support the environment.
Matt Burkhardt, MSTM
President
Impari Systems, Inc.
502 Fairview Avenue
Frederick, MD 21701
mlb@imparisystems.com
www.imparisystems.com
(301) 682-7901
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