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IBM released a report from the Robert Frances Group (RFG), which it sponsored that claims that the total cost of operation (TCO) for Linux is 40% lower than that of Windows.

This is contrary to a report that Microsoft released a couple of years ago that said that Windows was cheaper. This new report (PDF) also says that running Linux is cheaper than running Solaris. The Inquirer sums up the report:

It compared the cost of acquiring, implementing, and running an application server on Linux, Windows, and Sun Solaris. It found that Linux is 40 per cent less expensive than a comparable x86-based Windows server and 54 per cent cheaper than a Sparc-based Solaris server.

The report says that Linux's biggest saving comes about because it does not have the huge licensing fees of VoleWare and Solaris. However, there are other savings to be made, too.

"RFG was surprised to find such a large gap between the Linux and Windows hardware acquisition costs," the report says. "Study participants drove their Linux systems to higher utilisation levels than those who used Windows, and ran more applications on each server; they therefore did not deploy as much excess computing capacity."

As TechWorld points out, a big factor in Linux's TCO is the fact that system administrators can manage more systems than Windows administrators, which ultimately lowers the costs of management.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.