Make sure you do your homework, and you know exactly what you are getting into. If your site is such that you can simply drop in Apache as a replacement for IIS, you're in the minority. I don't say this to discourage the move, but just to say that you need to make sure that everything that you are doing on your IIS server (cgi programs, ASP, FrontPage, various other dynamic content techniques) will have a replacement that you can move to.

And don't be hesitant to call in a consultant to help you make the transition. There are a number of companies out there with very talented people that can help you make the move.

What operating system(s) do you use and why?

Right now, I'm using Slackware Linux on most of my personal machines, and Red Hat Linux on all of my training classroom machines, and, on a trial basis, on one of my home machines.

At the office, our design people use primarily Mac OSX, with a few of them still OS9, and one of our designers uses Windows 98 and Windows XP. All of the servers at the office, and in our coloc facility, are running Linux, with most of them being Slackware and one being RedHat.


Why? Well, that's a more complicated question. Personally, having learned Unix on BSD, and, prior to that, on some old 3B2's that my college had, I find that Slackware feels more like the unix I "grew up with." Red Hat, on the other hand, makes it much easier to install new hardware, configure printers, and install new applications without having to think a whole lot about dependencies. For the training classroom machines, the biggest consideration was time required to reinstall after a class.

As for the other machines throughout the office, everyone uses what they are comfortable with, and what gets their work done fastest. I long ago got over the OS bigotry of my earlier days, and I primarily believe in using the best tool for a given job, with the understanding that the best tool for me will seldom be the best tool for everyone else.

What are your future plans? Any exciting new projects?

I'm writing a book for O'Reilly, called "Apache Cookbook", which, in the cookbook tradition, gives cut-and-paste solutions to common problems in a recipe fashion. My co-author on this project, Ken Coar, was also a co-author on the Unleashed book.