Vista upgrade costs will boost Linux uptake, says Novell

The high costs of migrating from Windows XP to Windows Vista will be the catalyst that encourages more companies to seriously consider moving to desktop Linux, according to open source and networking company Novell on Monday.

Speaking at Brainshare, the company's annual European user conference in Barcelona, Novell chief executive Jack Messman claimed the costs of moving desktops to the next version of Windows will be significantly higher than migrating to desktop Linux.

Messman said: "The cost of migrating to Windows XP to Vista will be higher than the cost of migrating to Linux and that will push migrations to Linux."

Novell said it is making real gains on the desktop in Europe currently and that many organisations are choosing its Linux Desktop product especially in vertical industries that require locked-down clients with limited functionality.

David Patrick, general manager of open source platforms for Novell, said: "Instead of a 'one-size-fits-all' approach, Novell Desktop can be customised to provide the right fit across different workstations in the enterprise. So businesses finally have a secure and cost-effective alternative to Windows that serves the customer's return on investment rather than a vendor's proprietary licensing programme."

Messman added that moving to desktop Linux has functionality benefits as well as cost benefits. He claimed the fact that Novell's desktop Linux offering has less functionality than Microsoft Office is actually a positive rather than a negative thing.

Messman claimed certain features of Office allowed employees to waste time at work by making it easy for them to browse non-work related sites. "Do you really want to pay for all the excess functionality in Windows that distracts your employees and reduces their productivity?"

The City of Munich announced last week that it has delayed its migration to Linux on the desktop until 2006, a year later than planned and three years after it decided to migrate to Linux. Commenting on this news, Novell European general manager Volker Smid said he believed the setback would not be permanent: "I am more than convinced that these guys will achieve their aim no matter what, and proud that they have decided to go with Novell for the server element of the migration."

Recent migrations to Novell's desktop Linux package include SEB Eesti UHispank, the largest bank in Estonia, which is using Novell's SuSE Linux for bank teller workstations.

Andrew Donoghue writes for ZDNet UK