Does secure print work with your Linux drivers? I doubt it (I couldn't get it working with our printer anyway). Also, Microsoft supplies Security Essentials now with Windows 7, which includes a virus scanner (a good one too). That coupled with the fact that you can enforce the firewall settings on all PC's in your network if you're an admin, I'd say they do indeed have the virus situation under control (as best as is reasonably possible anyway). I guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree, but in my opinion, only a small amount of IT investment is in software - most of it is in man hours and hardware. A piece of software that costs money but saves man hours and increases productivity provides 100 times more value that free software that adds man hours and decreases productivity (as seems to be the case with Linux on the desktop for the Germans anyway, and something I have also experienced in the real world).

Why should a large organization have to discount the majority of new printers on the market today because their system can't support them. That's ridiculous. We have a huge Xerox printer/copier/fax/scanner here in the office, and I can tell you that there is no way that any linux driver is going to support this thing fully with all the features it has. It's just not worth the hassle running up against such problems all the time when you consider that the total cost of running such a system certainly isn't going to be much cheaper (and in my mind, almost certainly more expensive). And Windows 7 has viruses pretty under control if you have a competent admin running your network. In any case, if you really follow the Microsoft philosophy, even a virus that managed to make it onto your computer wouldn't cause you problems, because your mail would be stored on Exchange and your documents in Sharepoint. So you'd simply reimage your system and start working again. As much as many Linux nerds here don't want to admit it (or realise it's actually the case), Microsoft has an incredibly slick suite of software for businesses, and Linux simply doesn't come close to it.

Hiring people to write drives for the printers you have? Are you for real? You people are so blinded by Linux, that you don't see the reality of the situation. Listen, you have an organization that has 10,000 people, with thousands of mobile phones/printers/webcams/peripherals etc. What do you think you pay Microsoft a year to license Windows 7, Exchange and Office? I can tell you one thing, you're not paying retail price. In fact, from my experience, they'd be paying less than 10 euros per employee. So let's take 10 euros a head for 10,000 people - you're looking at 100 grand a year. How many people do you think 100 grand can hire that are able to program printer drivers for Linux. I would guess one. Then you need a load more people that support this entire system. Going the Microsoft route, you just get some low paid guy that has a Microsoft Certification to admin the whole system. These things are made to work out of the box with each other, and generally it works like that. Then everyone has the software they are used to, they all have their mail/contacts/calendar synced to their phones just as they like it, you can purchase any devices because they are all going to be compatible with Windows and you get support and professional software from Microsoft (yes, professional, please don't try to compare Open Office with MS Office, or even Linux on the Desktop with Windows 7). It makes sense to run Linux on servers where you have to have professionals running them anyway. But for an office environment, you're never, ever going to achieve the cost and productivity under Linux that you do under Windows all things considered.

Seriously, is there anything they don't want to turn into a robot?