Changing a Windows Network to Linux?

Charli125 asks: "I have been a Windows administrator ever since I got into the tech industry. I have no working experience with any other OS except for those from Apple. I am currently working with a small company that has 1 server and around 15 workstations. I would like to faze out all of the Windows software, in order to avoid having to deal with viruses, save money, and learn how the other half lives. Since I have never so much as installed Linux, I am looking for resources or advice on how to get started, and how to plan the change over. Can anyone help me?" "My current setup is like this:
Server-Windows Small Business Server 2003, Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition(and for Exchange)

Workstations-Windows XP Pro, Office 2003 or XP, Symantec Antivirus, IE for most of the browsers (Firefox for mine and a few others). The main apps used are like every other office, Word and Excel.

I have OpenOffice installed on my home computer, and it works fine. I do see a problem with non-tech types saving in the default format though, which would result in other users not being able to read the documents/spreadsheets.

Yeah, I know, I'm so MSFT, I'm everything you guys hate about the IT world, but I would really appreciate anything that would help me get started.

Thanks"

Comments

just don't do what (I'll call him) Bob did

[yagu]

Well, maybe rule number one:

1. Don't do what the former Windows admin did in our shop when he came in to run our Sun Servers. He noticed one server had been up for 555 days, and over the weekend re-booted it for us. Unix knows how to run for long periods of time without failing. Unix expects to run for long periods of time without failing.
2. See rule number 1.

Re:Obviously retarded

[MarkGriz]

I can see it all now....

Boss: WTF?!?! Charlie, get your ass in here!! How come Outlook says it cannot find the email server.

Charli125: We'll, I replaced our Windows server with Linux, because it's free and will save us money.

Boss: Look, if you don't change everything back so I can get my email in the next 30 minutes, the only thing we'll be saving money on is your salary!

Bad advice

[Intron]

First off, recent Linux distros have become big, bloated and hard to learn. Save yourself a lot of trouble and go with Redhat 5.1.

Second, many studies have shown that command line is more productive than GUI, so don't install X.

You'll find that your users will love having a choice of software, instead of being locked into a single application.

email: mail, elm or pine

word processor: troff or LaTex

web browsing: Lynx or wget

The list goes on and on.
Enjoy!