The second reason it is important is because most PC users really don't know how to use 90% of most of the packages they have, indeed very few people use most of the advanced parts of photoshop, some pre-press, others digital camera RAW support but very few people use most of them and the same can be said equally for MS Excel. While we are touching Excel, one of MS's better
products in my opinion, I will re-iterate, most users don't know how to use the software. I have seen accountants trying to use it as a word processor, project leaders and MD's using it as a project planner and very few people even half able to exploit its ability to do a FFT (Fast fourier transform), for example.

The fact is most of the people I have worked with, supported and helped really don't know how to use more than the basic functionality of a few things and the ones that did would pick up OpenOffice just as easily. Most of the people in an office workplace using PCs actually use a word processor, some presentation software and perhaps a spreadsheet in addition to an internet browser and mail client. Application logging in companies I have worked for reveals Solitaire as the next most popular application followed by Hearts.

OpenOffice duplicates the Microsoft products to a point where retraining is not much of an issue, indeed it is really only power users who would miss out. I recently installed Linux on a friend's PC, she runs her own business and her student status was coming to an end and she was considering
having to pay full price for XP and the Office suite. I simply asked her for a test, indeed we ran the Linux distro from a Live CD without touching anything. Just to be clear, her level of computer manual ends in "for dummies" and I was merely interested how far she would get and fully prepared
to install her new full versions for her and migrate things over.

A week later she asked for a full install, I really wasn't keen; I only wanted a test and her business depends on her PC including full Wifi functionality and also as a translation business on receiving and sending MS format documents so I decided to repartition and just install Linux alongside.
We are now several months down the road and she keeps asking when I can free up her disk by deleting her Windows install. When I asked her several times how she was managing she just said she had to learn different icons but once she had she found no problems and a very serious financial incentive.

Somewhat surprised by this, I am a Linux and BSD fan myself although i also use Solaris professionally. I don't like forcing it on others but when my girlfriends father's PC finally gave up the ghost at a financially inopportune moment it was hastiliy replaced with a no-name €199 PC without
an OS. Again I tried Linux, basically down to financial pressure and something for another self employed person to browse the internet on. One or two support calls have been needed and all of them handled by his daughter, a self professed luddite excepting one. A will give the one she
couldn't handle both as amusing but also to illustrate his level of IT knowledge and we were on vacation at the time.

He lost internet at first and then the computer shut itself down, it restarted when he pressed the switch and worked for a while before shutting down. I almost asked him to go behind it and check the power cable but I thought in the middle of a heatwave with temperatures well into the 40's on a cheap no-name computer putting a large fan next to it would be sufficient!

The third convert was converted during a virus cleaning exercise, the computer was past booting altogether and I used a live CD. I cleaned the PC and updated his antivirus and left Linux on as a curiosity, this user being more of a home power user. I was quite surprised when a week or so later enquiring as to the XP installs health he told me he didn't know because he hadn't actually tried. in this case we eventually just installed his original Windows 98 as a dual boot because his main interest was games but he still spends most of his time using Linux and is considering a newer PC (by which I mean something measured in Ghz. )

What I learned is that for many Soho users with basic needs Linux can provide everything tey need. For larger companies with support depts and specialists it is simple to see how running Xen, VMWARE or thin clients on some apps can also provide everything they need and indeed this just really leaves the SME environment to be covered.

The SME represents a unique case, networks often evolved around a peer network and the WfW group and software the Win 98 route not NT. Those which are IT based have obviously more infrastructure but for the others they probably have the most to gain by using open source if they can get support. In short, most multinationals use Linux or Unix to some degree already. They have the resources to do pilots and planning and have their own test labs. I should know, it's what I do. The SME's need access to technical training and support but this is no more or less expensive then the same levels of training and support for Windows and as every IT professional knows constant retraining is a absolute must in this ever changing profession.

S.Lord