Microsoft Vista costs force enterprises to contemplate, er Apple

BUSINESSES are seriously looking at Apple'a OSX operating system and Linux for the desktop in a bid to save cash on a Vista upgrade.

A panel of 12 CIOs set up by a magazine called Silicon said Vista's costs were likely to lead to an increase in the use of Macintosh OSX and the Linux OS [Not BeOS? Ed.].

Nicholas Bellenberg, IT director at publisher Hachette Filipacchi UK, said his company runs lots of Macs. He liked OSX but said that "Entourage" on the Mac doesn't match "Outlook" on the PC for functionality.

Bellenberg said that open source is another serious alternative on the desktop with more people trying out Ubuntu Linux.

But Gavin Whatrup, group IT director at marketing agency Creston, said that Fruitzilla's hardware still cost far too much and it was a barrier preventing more widespread deployment of Macs.

He said that Fruitzilla's OSX may be improving but it still has a long way to go to be as robust as Windows XP.

Graham Yellowley, director of technology services at investment bank Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International, said there would have to be a seismic shift in total cost of ownership to force a number of companies to jump from PC to Mac. The cost of transition is another barrier to wholesale change.

More 'ere. µ