Opinions

We're all familiar with the disruption and cost of moving. When I'm asked what it takes to motivate an organization to move to desktop Linux, my answer is simple, "Migrating desktops is like moving to a new house. What would it take to get you to move your house or office tomorrow?" Their response always starts with "It depends...".

The politics of change encompass two common views:

• Birds-Eye View of TCO: Governments such as Brazil, Chile, and Germany, along with companies such as IBM take the long view on change. They realize the hidden long-term cost of having their IT infrastructure dependent on a foreign monopoly, and understand that change is essential. The long-term health of their economy takes precedence over short-term costs. We all know people who have moved for their children's future, and in situations like these any short-term costs are rarely important.
• Street-Level View of TCO: In contrast, most IT decision makers want a quick win that will propel their careers forward. Linux has been a powerful vehicle for this kind of success story recently, but on the desktop, it is still perceived as risky. For these IT decision makers, it's all about short-term risk and reward.

In the past three years that we have been helping organizations move to desktop Linux, our company has developed a rule of thumb: to motivate change we need to offer a better house at half the price. For a rapidly growing number of markets (particularly for the public sector) this ambitious target is now achievable.

The needs of the public and non-profit sectors play to Linux's strengths. Non-profits typically have:

1. A strong philosophical alignment with Open Source;
2. A desire for a complete maintenance free solution (they simply don't have the IT staff or budget to babysit PCs);
3. Large numbers of PCs;
4. The need for a controlled environment.

Userful has found that in many cases a finely tuned Linux solution provides a better desktop solution for public sector customers. Many of our library customers have reported that patrons will actually wait in line for a Linux station rather than use the available Windows computers.

Achieving 50% TCO reduction in the non-profit sector takes a bit of creativity. A Linux platform offers two great ways to slash hardware costs:

1. Recycle obsolete PCs as thin clients (http://ltsp.org)
2. Turn one PC into 10 fully independent desktop stations by adding extra video cards and connecting 10 ordinary monitors and USB keyboards to a single computer box (http://userful.com)

Another benefit of Linux is affordable and flexible systems management. Centralized management used to be blisteringly expensive but now there's a plethora of OpenSource tools for Linux systems management, along with a handful of free or low-cost commercial offerings. Typically these tools are easy to use and let you change system settings across your WAN from a Web page. They typically provide monitoring and reporting along with other enterprise-class features.

The Total Cost of Ownership of a PC in the public sector is a fraction of what it is for their private counterparts. Public sector organizations often get discounted and donated soft-ware, volunteer administrators, and typically have lower ser-vice-level expectations. However, Linux can still offer the public sector radical cost savings , particularly on larger deployments.

Linux's key strength is its ability to offer custom-tailored solutions on top of a shared code base. On the server side, thousands of Open Source communities have sprung up to address specific shared needs. As building custom tailored desktop linux install CDs gets easier, we'll see a similar flourishing of both Open Source and commercial desktop solutions in the coming years. It's this kind of bundled solution without multi-vendor licensing complexities that enables both the "better house" and "half the price". The complete solution model leapfrogs Windows' approach where each organization independently buys the pieces of their desktop solution from the nine or 10 ISVs relevant to their industry.

By way of example, it's common in government, libraries, and schools to make PCs available for public use. These PCs require a custom locked-down desktop, virus and spyware protection, privacy protection, Internet filtering, and usage reporting in addition to the usual desktop applications. Building this on Microsoft Windows would require buying, testing, and managing software from at least 10 separate vendors. The integration effort alone drives IT costs through the roof, whereas on Linux you can get this custom environment with a single out-of-the-box install CD (http://userful.com/discoverstation).

Government and non-profits are both a sweet spot and a proving ground for desktop Linux. Non-profits are traditionally slower to adopt new technologies, however, with desktop Linux it is actually universities, libraries, schools and governments that are leading the charge. There are already many success stories in these markets, and their numbers increase daily. Linux is driven by freedom - freedom to choose and freedom to innovate. It's natural that organizations founded on the values of freedom, community, and equal opportunity are the first to pick up the flag and lead the way to a better, more affordable desktop.