Linux: A Few Good Reasons to Make the Switch

Linux: A Few Good Reasons to Make the Switch

Linux can reduce your company's TCO. The bottom line is always important and reducing the total cost of ownership of your computer is always a good thing. One of the reasons Linux TCO is less is because most of the software for Linux is free. In a typical office setting, software vendors such as Microsoft like to update their products once a year or so. If you choose not to buy the newer version, then at some point the software vendor will usually render the old software incompatible with the new version. This puts the company using the software into a tough spot. Buy the new stuff or use the old, incompatible version.

This upgrade or die game is not an issue with Linux. There is no real advantage for, say, Open Office, to make upgrades that render former versions obsolete. Here, the end-user experience is foremost in the developers mind, not on how can we generate more revenue.

So how does a Linux software company make money? Usually with paid support options. Large companies obtain and use Linux and Open Office for free, but will need paid support and training as with paid for software.

Linux is also a great alternative because it runs quite well on older hardware. Again, while paid-for, non-free software is constantly (oftentimes needlessly) growing larger and pushing the limits of current hardware, so that buying new software usually means having to buy new hardware to use it, Linux runs quite happily on just about any old computer running XP. The non-free software vendors tend to upgrade often whether the software is actually getting better or not. Just add something new so we can charge for it. And by all means make it very hardware and cpu intensive so end-users will be forced to upgrade hardware as well. It's a vicious cycle in the Windows world. Not so in Linux.

Most would-be Linux converts complain that there just isn't any software for Linux. There is a ton of great software for Linux. Is there Photoshop? No. Excel? No. Word? No. But Linux has excellent alternatives to just about everything. There really isn't much a Linux computer can't do. The Gimp is an excellent, advanced image editing package that while not as featured as Photoshop, really gives it a run for its money. For 3D, there's Blender. Open Office is a great Word and Excel replacement. Open Office can open and edit most Word and Excel documents.

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