I recently came across some Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) information Microsoft has published on their website, showing how using Windows Server gives you a better Return On Investment (ROI) than Linux. Given the ubiquity of Microsoft Windows, you may think that what they have to say would hold a good deal of truth to it. I think the truth is a little closer to "Microsoft makes it as expensive as possible to break out of the lock-in their products create."

The Redmond giant’s PR spin has gone into overdrive to warn budding potentials away from the evils of Linux and open source. The messages are consistent: Linux may be free, but there’s a catch; it has a higher total cost of ownership, a lower return on investment, less support and is a less sound platform. I declare bunkum.

As Microsoft gears up to launch Windows 7, Canonical and IBM have a message for channel partners and CIOs (chief information officers): Virtualized Ubuntu desktops, running on centralized Linux servers, provide lower TCO (total cost of ownership) and lower acquisition costs vs. traditional Windows desktops. Here's the scoop.

"I was reading a recent article in which the argument and proof is given for a number of Linux customers moving from Linux to Windows Server. The various reasons include TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), ease of support, and stability(?)."

I just again encountered a situation on XP that required a command-line fix and it highlights the ignorance of many fanboys about the reality of Windows system administration.

Today’s “Newbie Tip” is learning some basics about the “Command Line Interface” or as it’s mostly referred to, “Command Line”. The command line gives the user the ability to interact with the operating system by typing via a text terminal.

Igor Moochnick announced Pash, an open source implementation of Microsoft's PowerShell. "The main goal is to provide a rich shell environment for other operating systems as well as to provide a hostable scripting engine for rich applications. The user experience should be seamless for people who are used to Windows version of PowerShell.

The reason people go for an operating system like Linux is the sum of its parts—its total usefulness. It is stable, affordable, fast, and runs on all kinds of hardware. It is also extremely flexible right out of the box, largely because of its powerful command-line interface (CLI), or shell.

I use the Linux command line extensively, both on my local machine or when I’m connected to a remote server. There are some keyboard shortcuts that I want to share with you which have made my life on BASH a lot easier. I have not come across too many books that have documented these shortcuts and I think they are quite important to improve your productivity while on the command line.