[Jake_11]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but...

I am working on a research paper for school researching alternate operating systems. Basically switching from Windows to OS X, Unix or Linux. I have found plenty of information on why someone would switch, benifits, and drawbacks, but I can't seem to find anything on the cost invovled. I know there would be training involved and most likely having to purchase new software. If anyone has any experience with this or an idea of a place to research it, could you please reply. Thanks in advance.

[msuper69]

The cost of switching will be different for each case. It will mostly be the cost of new software which can only be determined by searching for replacements and pricing each.

I believe a more interesting paper would be to document the resistence encountered by the people who hold a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, mainly the IT support staff. In the case of Apple, they would find their jobs seriously threatened as it has been shown (and ignored by those people) that the size of the support staff could be reduced by as high as a factor of 10. That is the biggest obstacle to a company dumping Windows.

[Jake_11]

Thanks for the response. I didn't choose the topic it was assigned so it is what I'm stuck with. So in the long run it would be cheaper, but initial cost of switching could impose a problem. What about the cost involved for training the employees on the new software? Does anyone know an average dollar amount companies spend on this?