Introducing Linux, the author notes that despite many positive signs there is little evidence of its penetration into the mainstream Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) market or into UK law firms. After an overview of what Linux is and the meaning of "open source", the article continues with an overview of Linux "flavours", such as Red Hat.
It is well known that the capital costs of Linux are a lot less than other operating systems. However, if one includes the total cost of ownership (TOC) the picture becomes less clear. Linux skills are in short supply among both IT professionals and users and therefore the costs of retraining existing staff for implementing, supporting and maintaining a Linux system can be high.
To put it simply, until such time as there is a resounding market swing and sufficient client demand to cover the costs of developing Linux-based solutions, the Linux revolution will not materialise. This said, Linux is here to stay. It provides impressive cheap alternatives in niche areas such as Firewalls/Internet in a box solutions and it has the potential to change the operating system landscape over the next 3-5 years.
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