Computerworld has an opinion piece on a recently leaked memo from Microsoft. The memo, bemoaning the fact that many people are migrating from RISC UNIX to Linux rather than Windows, gives Nick Petreley a chance to delve into the advantages of the X Windowing System. “X11 is essentially a graphical user interface library, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's anything like Win32. X11 and the Win32 application programming interface are as different as night and hot. They're not even similar enough to deserve a comparison like night and day or cold and hot.”
“In short, you can keep all your features, migrate five servers to Windows 2000 Advanced Server and install Windows XP Professional on 250 clients for about $133,000, not including hardware or service contracts. Or you can migrate five servers and 250 clients to Linux for anywhere between $1 and $200, not including hardware or service contracts. Gosh, Brian, I can hardly wait to see how your next leaked memo addresses that difference. “