How to Run a Microsoft-Free Shop

STEP 2 We came to believe that a powergreater than ourselves could restore our IT department tosanity.

Linux is that power. It is less expensive to acquire. It takes up lesshard disk space and requires less memory to run. There is elegance inthe open-source code license: You can have the source code for free,allowing you to upgrade or patch systems as you like. The only rule isthat when you develop something new out of the source code, you mustshare that code with everyone else. Many developers believe thisopen-source model makes Linux inherently more secure than aproprietary operating system.

"We think we'll get blazing performance," says David Larsen, directorof IS in Murray City, Utah, who's starting a migration to Linuxdesktops. "The other thing is, Linux is being taught in schools. It'sgetting easier to find skills. It's something whose time iscoming."

STEP 3 We made a decision to turn ourlives over to Linux as we understood Linux.

This is the hardest part of running a Microsoft-free shop: deciding todo it. Linux has a geek's reputation. At the same time, manyexecutives have a crude interpretation of its value tocorporations - "It's free, and therefore it's cheap." Slowly, thatmentality is changing, but it's still true that there first must be awholehearted and willing embrace of Linux as a legitimate enterprisereplacement for Microsoft. This journey usually starts with a techexecutive playing around. Maybe it's a Linux firewall on a homemachine. Maybe it's a Linux desktop on an old Pentium that wascollecting dust. But it starts at the top. A Microsoft-free IT shopcannot exist without the CIO reading up on and understanding the powerof the alternatives.