Can a small business afford not to run Linux?

Stan Beer
Monday, 12 November 2007 13:21

Opinion and Analysis

Reason number two for running Linux in your business was illustrated by the small business owner at the opening of this story:

License issues

That particular small business owner found that when he upgraded his hardware he couldn't activate Windows when he reinstalled it. However, seven years ago a well-known small US family business called Ernie Ball, which makes guitar strings, had a much more unpleasant experience which prompted it to switch the entire company's operations, including more than 70 desktops, to Linux.

Like many small companies, Ernie Ball can't afford to throw away old computers. Instead, as the computers age, they pass the previous high end models that were being used for compute intensive tasks down the line to workers with less demanding computing needs. Sometimes the software being used by the engineers wasn't uninstalled even though it wasn't being used by its new owners.

A disgruntled former employee filed a complaint to trade group copyright watchdog the Business Software Alliance, the Ernie Ball office was raided by armed guards who siezed its computers, and a few duplicate copies of software were found for which there were not enough licenses. Rather than fight the case, Ernie Ball settled for about $100,000. Within six months, the company had switched its entire operations to Red Hat Linux and open source software applications and reportedly has never looked back.

Even for smaller companies than Ernie Ball, the last thing they need to worry about is whether their software licenses are compliant. They don't want to worry about how many times they're allowed to upgrade their computers before being forced to buy licenses for their operating system and office software. Obviously with Linux and open source software this isn't an issue.

Costs

All software that's being put to serious use is going cost money in some form. In the case of Linux, most small businesses without in-house computer expertise will need to pay someone to set up their systems and network. It might even be more than it would cost to set up a Windows network.

However, aside from the saving on the cost of software licenses, there are hidden savings - less requirement for highly configured hardware; no requirement for expensive security subscriptions; and less down time from system freezes and malware issues.

Security

The argument continues to rage as to whether Linux, with its permissions based security architecture, is inherently safer than Windows. The fact that Vista, touted as being the most secure Windows ever, has implemented its own permissions based architecture should tell us something.

We're also continually being told that the only reason there's more viruses, worms, Trojan horses and exploits for vulnerabilities in Windows than Linux or Mac OS X is because that its dominant market share and user base make it a much bigger target for attackers. That may or may not be true but for a small business looking to run secure computer systems right now, does it really matter?

All a small business owner wants to know is whether the business has a much less chance of running into security issues if it uses Linux. Sterling Ball, the CEO of Ernie Ball, which has been running as an exclusive Linux shop for seven years, provided an answer in a classic interview five years ago: "What about the cost of dealing with a virus? We don't have 'em."

Stability

For a small business, keeping systems up and running is of paramount importance. Running a Linux distro on the desktop provides the best possible option for meeting that objective.

I don't really remember exactly how many times I was forced to reboot my computer before I installed Ubuntu. I'm not just talking about the times I downloaded and installed new software or the monthly patch cycle. Inexplicable system slowdowns, freezes and the occasional blue screen were a fact of life, including on my latest desktop before making the switch.

It's admittedly still early days but so far this is the most stable system I've ever had. So far, control-alt-delete has been missing from my keystroke inventory and the only time I've rebooted was on a couple of occasions to check to make sure I haven't missed copying over any entries in my Outlook calendar.

Small businesses are considered by many as the backbone of a healthy economy. Collectively, they are by far the biggest employer of labour but individually they are most vulnerable to changes in the economic climate. Keeping their computer systems running as smoothly and as cost effectively as possible is mandatory and therefore, for a small business, so is Linux.