The thing I am yet to see anyone tackle in the user argument of “which is better windows, linux or mac” is that of the corporate world that makes up a much larger part of the computing world.

Now, I’m not talking about the more specialised world of unix powered data centres and specific applications but that of the integrated small to medium sized business.

These people want easy to use services be they data storage points, CRM packages, office application suites and various collaboration tools that intertwine their tendrils thru all corporate applications and the ubiquitous email system using a myriad of mechanisms to access it.. be it a web browser, a pda/smartphone, a desktop, a thin client or even a bespoke appliance.

Couple this with a need to manage and control all of these machines and services through a single directory mechanism that can alter what people see and access using a single, auditable account (in order to trace what they have been doing and when).

Now, I’ve not had any experience of using ldap outside of a microsoft environment (just 9 years worth of experience being the sysadmin over initially an NT domain, then migrated over to an Acitve Directory one) but I can’t really imagine a small to medium business using anything other than a microsoft active directory model – the many things you can do with active directory and the various services MS develop that hook directly into this make for a formidable opponent to fight when you begin looking for open source alternatives – especially when you don’t really need to pay for highly specialised courses for an end user to be able to use the tools available as well as for the admin team to manage and administrate them.
Remember, there’s more to the cost of a corporate network than the software you buy.

I do notice that many of the “why don’t we use something other than windows” comments are made by people with practically zero experience of actually managing a corporate network.
This isn’t to say that the MS way of doing a corporate network is the best and only way, it’s just that it’s often the most used way because it’s a very easy and yet extensive system – the hardest part is getting your head around their perplexing licensing system, there’s courses that deal with just the licensing alone!

I would love to see the *nix community highlight how you can use *nix to centrally manage and administrate a corporate network in order to cater for your users in the way that group policy, wsus, wds, sharepoint, MOM, active directory, isa, live communications server and exchange already does for the windows world.

Once you can present a manageable alternative to these, then *nix will be ready to take on microsoft in the corporate network, so come on you *nix advocates – educate us as to how you would use *nix to manage a corporate network!