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Will Munich's Linux Desktops Be Running Windows?
An anonymous reader writes "Remember that story about the city of Munich choosing Linux to power 14,000 desktop computers? One aspect of this story that most people don't know about is that up to 80 percent of those Linux desktops will be equipped with VMWare, a virtual machine emulator, under which they will run Windows and Windows applications. That's right, folks: The majority of those 'Linux desktops' will be used to run ... Windows." This Gartner report from early June seems to be the one mentioned in the article, though I'm not sure exactly where Thurrott gets the 80% figure.
The article asks the source of the 80% figure. The original report is here (in German). On page 34, footnote 1, there is the assumption that 80% will be using VMWare for 4 to 5 years.
Terminal Server seat licence costs about the same as an XP Pro licence. So there's no savings that way.
Microsoft stopped offering "machine independant" site licences in probably 1998 or so. All the newer licences require the customer to buy a new licence for each new machine. (At least in the US - can't say for Germany.)
So if/when they upgrade hardware, they are either going to have to continue running an ancient version of Windows (with no support, security fixes, etc); or purchase a new Windows licence at the full retail price -- not cheap.
The article did indicate that their current setup was pretty old (Windows 3.1 even), but if this isn't managed carefully, they could end up paying a ton of money for Windows licences on top of what they are paying for SuSE, VMWare, etc. And Microsoft is going to be very, very interested in auditing these guys.
On top of that, using VMWare does not make all of your Windows management costs disappear. They are still going to have to do most of the stuff normally required to support Windows, plus the Linux admin.
originally. MS came up with a few extras that made them 11-15 million cheaper.
they also submitted a few comments that suggested that they had read a report they shouldn't have had access to
This makes sense to me, as I am doing the same thing to finally migrate over to Linux full time.
In fact, this approach has me using Linux MORE than when I tried to only use Linux apps.
By having a Win4Lin desktop running Window 98 just one click away, I feel much less silly with my self-enforced migration to Linux.
When I absolutely have to use Windows, it's there for me - no re-booting necessary. The majority of the time I can use the Web, etc. in Linux, and thus slowly, smoothly determine how much of my day to day tasks I can actually accomplish using open-source things like open office.
In other words, having Windows there is making me use it less!
I think, therefore I thought.
Check the history. If you Google for Gartner and OSS/Linux etc., you will see that Gartner's reports are ALWAYS pro-Microsoft even when their supporting arguments are very weak indeed. So no surprise there.
By comparison, Bloor Research reports are usually positive about Linux and Open Source in general.
Most likely GSX for the desktop app needs. ESX is more for reducing TCO for enterprise datacenters. The cost per 2 seats for GSX is $2,500. I'd imagine they are getting at least a 20% discount for buying 5k+ seats worth but it just dosent make business sense to me. If I were a tax payer in Munich I'd be extreamly pissed off that that they wasted soo much money. Rember, they are not just buying VMware, they are also purchasing SuSE and paying someone (IBM I belive) to set this mess up, & they have to train an untold number of users.
Just for the record, there is NO "off the record" record.
Make a record of that.
I suspect that the actual users will become highly motivated to run VMware as little as possible and will soon learn to love linux (as they should).
Germany is the only country in the world where this MSFT practice has been shot down in courts as a restraint of trade. AFAIK In Germany you can recycle windows licenses and they cannot be tied to machines and you can resell them as well.
In btw: I see nothing wrong in using vmware as a transitions strategy. Been there myself until openoffice reached a point where it became really useable
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
I daresay they won't need to buy any Windows licenses. Their existing Windows 98 licenses will work just fine. The usual reasons for buying new versions of Windows is for new hardware, support, patches, or integration with Active Directory. As Munich will be using Linux as the host operating system they can run older versions of Windows (in VM sessions) forever.
It's very likely that they already have their Windows licensing "in a row". Remember, they're currently running a mixed environment of Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. I don't think Microsoft is allowed to dictate which computer (or VMware session) the license is for. At least, not in Germany :-)
Also it's likely that they got VMware a bit cheaper than $300/copy. Buying in bulk you can often halve the sticker price (or better). If they paid more than $150/copy for VMware I'd be very surprised.
Finally, the Windows licenses are one thing, but the Office licenses are another, and the client-access licenses are another. Windows is pretty cheap compared to Office and CALs. By switching to OpenOffice and no CALs they'll be saving millions.
"Bei der Ermittlung des Mengengersts fuer die Lizenzkosten VMWare wird fuer;r die WiBE21 davon ausgegangen, dass fuer ca. 80 % aller PC-Clients (14.183), d.h. fr 11.364 PC-Clints [sic!] je eine VMWare-Lizenz beschafft werden muss." Quelle: Projekt Client Studie der Landeshauptstadt Muenchen: Entscheidungsvorlage, V1.11 vom 23.01.2003
in english:"The determination of the quantity structure for the VMWare-license-costs for the WiBE21 we assume that approx. 80 % of all PC Clients (14.183), i.e. for 11,364 PC Clints [ sic! ]one VMWare license each to be procured."
Conclusion: anonymous reader is well informed.Microsoft lost.
Claus