The various factors or business drivers behind choosing an OS are:

a) Stability and Performance: - IT companies work 24X7 and want a robust and reliable platform to host its software upon which guarantees stability and performance without bugs and frequent crashing events

b) Security level:- Data security is of top most priority for any IT company before hosting any OS on its servers. As digitization of systems increases it becomes more important for data to be covered under layers and chest walls

c) Cost and Support:- The overall initial cost of deployment and recurring cost of support and maintenance is also looked by IT infrastructure team before choosing for an OS

d) Upgrades and Compatibility: OS chosen should be compatible for any hardware changes and deployments. OS should also upgrade itself with changing infrastructure requirements and should release timely updates and releases for the system

Factors which might encourage companies to choose between open sources versus proprietary systems or vice-versa are:

1) Open Systems

1.1) Open systems have zero initial cost of deployment, free support, fewer bugs and faster fixes, rapid adaptability and upgrading capabilities.

1.2) Cons could be reduced competitive advantage as anyone can avail the OS as it is an open resource. Another disadvantage is that open source OS’s are more prone to risk or data leakage compared to proprietary systems

2) Proprietary

2.1) Proprietary OS have better usability, stability, ownership and tailored support compared to open OS

2.2) Cons could be that it comes with an initial deployment cost, limited adaptability options to hardware or support software options. It also has a recurring support cost attached till the time it is in use

 

the decision to choose an operating system depends on the use case, business requirements and usability. IN an environment where most users are technical, it makes sense to go the Linux route whereas when business interaction is limited to using productivity tools such as Office then Windows proprietary would make more sense.

You have highlighted that open source systems have zero cost for deployment. I think that this based on the assumptions of cost avoidance for purchasing proprietary software, limited hardware requirements and limited time to deploy. However, the non technical users may find the ramp up time to learn and implement open source productivity tools a real challenge.

Do you think that this could increase the total cost of ownership?

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