@GedB: Your comments are pretty inaccurate too my friend
@Everyone :
Lets start by saying that Linux is NOT an operating system. Linux is a kernel. There is a lot more to an OS than the kernel.
There are many distributions of Linux that try to pass themselves off as operating systems but they are really just collections of binaries running with a Linux kernel. If that makes it an operating system then the distros are operating systems, but not Linux itself.
Most distributions have paid ("enterprise") and free versions. linuxiso.org is your friend for downloading the free versions.
All the free version of BSD style Unix have been around for ages -
www.freebsd.org www.openbsd.org www.netbsd.org
However, NT can still be cheaper to run that Linux because of the Total Cost of Ownership.
I don't think that is really true. There are many more free server applications available for unix-like platforms than Windows. When properly licensed, Windows server OSes are pretty expensive.
Until recently Unix was very, very expensive. This mean that very few people would have it installed at home. The only place to gain exposure to Unix would be within a large corporation or at university.
What on Earth are you talking about? There have been free Unix-like OSes for almost 20 years now. FreeBSD, OpenBSD,NetBSD, all the various Linux based OSes. I have no idea where you get the idea that you couldn't run a Unix-like OS for free until recently. I've been using FreeBSD for 10+ years now as a server and as a desktop OS and have never paid a dime for it.
The result of this is that there was a limited number of people with good Unix skills and experience. Supply and demand makes these people expensive.
I'd argue with that too. If you think there aren't many Unix-ish people out there then you need to pull your head out of the sand! There might be more Windows people now because of the vast marketing efforts of M$ but there are a LOT of people still using Unix-like operating systems. I believe Unix-like servers still out number the Windows based servers in production (could be wrong about that last statement).
Also, Unix was developed for this environment, requiring a very deep technical knowledge to kepp it running. Again, this bumps up the cost.
Just because something doesn't have a point n' click GUI attached to it doesn't mean it requires "deep technical knowledge". Though I would hope that an administrator of a production server would have such knowledge regardless of the server operating system used. Again, there are many free Unix-like operating systems.
Windows, on the other hand, is available on almost every personal computer. There are a lot of windows users, many with advance knowledge. More supply means lower prices.
When was the last time you saw a Dell personal computer come with Windows 2000/2003 server bundled with SQL server and such? Go price a Windows 2003 license with a 5+ user SQL server license and tell me that FreeBSD and PostgreSQL isn't cheaper (they are both totally free and released under the BSD license by the way).
The overall result is that the total cost of installing NT and hiring people with sufficient skill to keep it going is less than that to keep Unix running.
Just not true my friend, just not true. Go hire an MCSE+I certified guy and see the salary requirements. After that, go hire a Linux/FreeBSD admin and compare requested salaries.
Administrators *are* expensive. They need "deep technical knowledge" regardless of what operating system they know and that knowledge comes with a hefty price tag. Comparing just licensing costs of the operating systems and required software between Windows and FreeBSD / Linux based OSes - free is cheaper than everything!
Doot!
