I'm not sure what Catch's over all goal is, but my guess is the root of which may be money. The cost of purchasing licensing and maintenance of the Microsoft platform versus open source which is (for the software) cost free. That's not to say there is no cost, there are man hour costs, development costs and even validation costs.

From reviewing this thread and previous ones, the options/opinions vary so much about the capabilities of Linux, which are the proven ones? I'm assuming the environment in which Catch would implement these, if it were possible are stringent and need to adhere to the "book". What if he attempts to implement those pieces(from a Linux standpoint), the pieces that would be all inclusive to create a complete environment to adhere to the guidelines, would it be more costly in time and trial and error than it would be to just pay the cost of Microsoft's already accepted system?

Don't get me wrong, I've been in *nix arena since 1986, when in UNIX, I don't use GUI's I am a vi diehard and most my emails are all in lower case, because that is how I use the keyboard in UNIX(most of my typing, this post would be all lowercase too but spellcheck fixed it for me). So, I am not, nor would I, condemn Linux or any variation of UNIX, it's my life. But that's not the question, the question is one of environments, needs and costs.

I don't think Catch is turning his nose up at Linux, I think he is honestly interested and if the capabilities were available and at a truly(all things considered) lower cost, would implement it. We've even done some similar studies, our company was heading for bankruptcy and management wanted us to look into Linux as an alternative to windows, but any direction we turned and looked, we found reasons to not switch, even at a lower cost. Most not having to do with security at all, but applications, user training and familiarity, the question was always "is it worth the time and effort?"

I have been reading this forums since March of 2001, only been a member since early this years, but I do have this to say, I do find this to be one of the best conversations/threads thus far, I only hope it stays in the direction needed and doesn't get into a pissing match. One thing that could come from it is an actual solution, that is if we stay focused.

My assumptions could be wrong of course, but I'm willing to think otherwise and take my chances, you guys can be tough on a person some times when you disagree with a post.