Thank you, Mr. Mattrick.

Windows is weaker than it's ever been. They aren't that stupid....

Because Windows Enterprise and Server were so cheap before? Depending on the size of the company it may even be cheaper than the current model.

Also you probably wouldn't believe how fucking expensive solutions based on Redhat Linux are.

Let me rephrase that: I probably would've gone with Linux either way, unless there was something I absolutely needed Windows for. But Linux is functional for most office work.

Any reasonably sized company will need an Active Directory. A lot of network and application services rely on it. If it's not Windows it will be one of the Linux distributions that offer support, none of which are free or even cheap.

Sorry to break it to you but actual work in businesses is a lot more than just doing some work in local applications like browsers and worksheets. Even if the lowlevel office drone does not notice that.

Would it be impossible to have a combination? Free Linux distros for all those where that's sufficient, and a distro that supports AD where that is needed?

I can't really see a scenario where you would not want to have an employee's PC in your AD. It's both necessary for accounting and security. The only place where free linux distros exist are in the datacenter for more or less important applications like internal websites or network services.

And to all that you have to add the familiarity with the system. A lot of companies simply can't switch or had to switch back to Windows due to complaints and decreased productivity by employees due to their inability to adjust.

Switching away from Windows is simply not a realistic option. I doubt the new system will be much more expensive than the current one and even if it's probably less expensive than a switch to a different OS would be.

Without active directory in place in an office setup you might as well ask each of your workers to bring in their own PC and work on that, you would lose everything to do with Group Policy security, logins on domains are completely different to logins on non-AD PCs so you wouldn't be able to have users shifting from one PC to the next because their login info would just be stored locally on machines... along with any files unless they went to use a basic file sharing setup but again without a Domain to control it, it would be a mess if you had more than 5-10 PCs.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't do it if I ran a bug business. Then it becomes too much of a hassle. I was thinking more if I ran a smaller business.