If you have about 10 or less users, and are just getting into this for yourself, then Linux might be a good idea. It would be better than Win2kPro or WinXP Pro only in the case where you have an 11th user you won't run into any hardcoded (or license-use) limit.

However, if you need help, you will have to get very acquainted with online support systems (newsgroups, web-based forums, e'lists). Not that this is a bad thing, but you have no real options for calling someone. Now, with a MS product you will still want to use online resources first, but if you really really get stuck there is someone to call for a fee.

You will also have to look at the languages/dialects you will have to know to manage the box. Good GUIs for the Lunixes are few and far between, and are not without their own idiosyncracies and bugs as well.

Something else to think about is the frequency of patching. 5 years ago, Windows was as bad a Lunix, but now with the WindowsUpdate site, especially the facility for creating your own update point in your organization, Windows really shines on this one. Even my Mac-loving brother is jealous when I say "I want to update my OS/browser/whatever, time to click my mouse 6 times". With a Lunix, get ready for rapid-fire patches and a weekly stream of updates for the software components you use. Although Windows is geared towards the "server admin is an idiot", Lunix is geared towards the "server admin has a Master's degree", and the patching/etc that goes on really illustrates that. I have seen more than one message board thread where a Lunix admin has said "if you don't understand this you shouldn't have your job" instead of saying "this is hard, but here are the resources and scripts to make things happen".

Having said all that, I would say that if you go to a unix-style OS, you think about FreeBSD instead. The Mono/Ximian project is bringing the .NET Framework CLR to the platform, so a lot of the things you learn on the Microsoft .NET platform will let you work on FreeBSD. I don't think the Lunix implementation is anywhere near as complete as the BSD-based stuff.

Lunix is cheaper to buy and cheaper to install, but costs the same (sometimes more) to use over n months than Win32.

Actually, despite all the bad stuff I had to say about unixes, I think you should get FreeBSD 4.7, install the latest PostgreSQL and Apache and SAMBA. Hook up a printer and enable sharing. You will probably find that that part is pretty easy. Then put your DBC stuff on a share, also pretty easy. Then use ODBC to go from VFP to PostgreSQL, also fairly easy. And it didn't cost you a thing.

Next week, gather all the versions of packages (equal to MSIs in Win32) that you installed. Go to Google and look for updates for each for a security flaw or memory leak or whatever. Download the patches (and sometimes the patches for the GCC environment you need to make to use the patches) and apply them. Do it next week too.

Next week, decide you want to make a server-side development. Like an automated filesystem backup of your DBFs; he server won't know when it is safe to backup the files because the OS doesn't do/respect file locking on a unix the same way Win32 does things. That could be a disaster when it's time to restore a multi-user DBF or even a word doc that the company owner didn't close before the backup started.

One last thing. I think it is Microsoft hardcoding that prohibits server-class usage of Microsoft apps like IIS or file/print sharing on Win2K/XP. But it is only part of the paper license agreement that you can't do the same thing with non-MS software. I don't think NT4 had any limitations on the workstation product for what you could do with non-MS software. If that is the case (check the fine print), you could conceivably install NT4/SP6a+ and put an open-source version of NFS or FTP or SFTP or something non-MS on it and use that to serve. Not my favorite, but it's something you could do.

It's hard to beat Win2K Server these days for a reason. :) It's probably better to install Win2K Server, disable all the stuff you don't want to use, and get back to work. :)


>Hi
>
>Another thread which I started told me quite categorically that I could not have more than 10 concurrent connections to a Win2k pro machine and that I had to run Win2k server.
>
>All I want is a simple file server on which to share the data.
>
>Does anyone have any experience with Linux and if so which version would be the best for ease of loading and configuration.
>
>Colin Northway