The top five motivations for considering a Windows alternative, as determined from the feedback of nearly 1,700 respondents in a recent online survey, are:

• Concerns about Windows security vulnerabilities
• The high cost burden of keeping windows secure
• A perception that Windows squanders the power of modern hardware
• Ongoing frustration with Windows stability and reliability
• Confusion and dissatisfaction with cost and complexity of Windows licensing

Such concerns are felt by some to be the cause of increased IT operational costs and to represent an ongoing drain on valuable IT bandwidth.

It is against this background that Linux is considered as an alternative desktop operating system and the perception of its advocates is that it directly addresses all of these concerns.

Yet migrating to Desktop Linux is perceived in itself as a costly and labour intensive exercise, bringing with it a number of its own risks and concerns. The top 5 barriers to migrating to Linux are perceived to be:

• Software availability and compatibility issues
• Usability, End User acceptance and resistance to change
• The cost and challenge of End User training and support
• The cost and challenge of porting bespoke Windows applications
• A frequently encountered dependency on Microsoft Active Directory

There are ways of tackling a Windows to Desktop Linux migration that go some way towards working around these issues, and a series of tips and tricks to increase the chances of a successful migration is presented in this paper. So too is a six step approach to making an objective assessment of whether Desktop Linux is right for your organisation, and if so, where within the organisation it would make the most sense.

The conclusion from analysis of survey responses, however, is that Desktop Linux and associated applications still have a way to go before they can be thought of as a viable wholesale replacement for the Windows based desktop in most organisations.

In the meantime, it is a case of evaluating the cost/benefit equation for a Desktop Linux deployment in relation to different user scenarios and considering the use of this Open Source operating system on a selective case-by-case basis.

There is an annotated slide set to go with this report available.