Linux costs 40% of MS and 14% of Sun

a three year study

[littleman]

Most of the savings with Linux come from software licensing fees. Companies will typically purchase commercial versions of Linux for pilot projects, says Robert Frances Group senior research analyst Chad Robinson, and download free versions off the Web for production deployments.

the news artical [linuxtoday.com]

Much more telling is the PDF file outlining the study [ibm.com].

Three-year total costs of owner
deployment were as follows:

Case Year 1 Year 2
Linux $49,931 $62,203
Solaris $421,718 $491,619
Windows $91,724 $141,193

Linux was the least expensive plat
and operate. Although some init
higher at points, the ability to mas
product horizontally without pay
licensing fees can yield significan
over the long term.

[Nick_W]

Think I'll grab that PDF for a little light reading on the flight over for PubCon ;)

Cheers littleman!

Nick