This paper compares the costs of acquisition and support of Microsoft Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Based on their research, Ideas International found that across several scenarios, Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 license and support costs are competitive, and in some cases, significantly lower than the license and support costs of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- Microsoft's and Red Hat's different approaches to software licensing and support, and the fact that real-world software purchasing decisions tend to involve longer term commitments, mean that the most realistic pricing comparisons should be based on a period of ownership (three to six years), rather than on just the upfront costs.
- Differences in the licensing and support costs of the OS were relatively small when considered in the context of the acquisition costs of hardware and software costs.
