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.

Comments

Re:Licensing?

[4of12]

If Microsoft lowers their price to consumers, the end user STILL wins BECAUSE OF LINUX.

So, thank you GNU/Linux - even if you lose the fight

I agree. Clearly, the margins on their products are sufficiently large that Microsoft can easily afford to make such discounts.

But if GNU/Linux loses, then the competition is gone and one can expect price flexibility to return to a much more inelastic model consistent with Microsoft's desktop monopoly position in the marketplace.

Anyone that is buying big contracts (and there are some very large contracts) from Microsoft ought to think carefully about this.

It would not be unreasonable for them to use the threat of Linux to obtain a discount in their current negotiations, and then to plough a third or a half of the saved money into further Linux development in the direction that their business needs. Then, they'll be guaranteed to have an effective lever for negotiating future discounts with Microsoft.

Or, who knows, it may actually turn out that Linux proves to be such a significant cost-savings, that a great deal more expense could be spared at that time.

Those figures are conservative. Here's a list.

[leonbrooks]

Yup, I'm sure those figures are accurate.

In no particular order:

Bernard Blackham, Bernd Felsch, Shaun Patston, Lyall Stewart, John Pengelley, David Pengelley, Patrick Ko, Jeremy Malcolm, Patrick Tehvand, Pia Smith, Jeff Waugh, Anand Kumria, Hugh Blemings, Paul Russel, Andrew Cowie, Matt Kemner (aka "Zombie"), Tony Breeds-Taurima, Stewart Smith (no relation), Dave Emrik, Harry McNally, Jacqueline McNally, Anne Busby, Steve Ireland, Wayne Langlois, Gavin Coe, Brett Looney, Gavin Tweedie, Chris Caston, Craig Ringer, Clare Johnstone, Michael Hunt, Otto Benschop, James Devenish, David Madeley (aka "proXy"), Trent Lloyd (aka "Lathiat"), David Lloyd (no relation), John Knight (aka "Anarchist Tomato"), Ben Jensz, Scott Middleton, Andrew Furey, Brad Campbell, Major<*>, Suzanne Kelly-Hopkinson, Daniel Pearson, Brad Cobb, Tim Downing, Peter Stone, Fred Myers, Chas Stan-Bishop, James Andrewartha, James Bromberger, James Henstridge.

One for every week of the year so far, plus a spare, sticking to people I know face-to-face and with a 100% hit rate on understanding - leaving out "cult figure" acquaintances like Linus Torvalds, Peter Anvin, Alan and Telsa Cox - and still going strong. If I wanted to hit the 60% comprehension level I could probably run that up to around 200 people. Now go and get a life.

<*>Yes, that's his real name.