MileStone has extensive experience with open systems and open source solutions that address a wide range of business and technical needs.

Has a threatening letter from the BSA crossed your desk? Has Code Red/Nimda got you rethinking the wisdom of "total reload on a newly formatted hard drive" as a Standard Operating Procedure? Tired of "security patch of the day"?

We're here to help. We have listed the resources you will need to migrate your computing infrastructure to freely available operating systems and applications.

Basic Operating System
Debian GNU/Linux	Perhaps the best tested, most reliable distribution available.
Desktop Environment and Tools
KDE	We prefer KDE, but Gnome is considered an equally viable option.
StarOffice or KOffice	While KDE offers KOffice, and we do think highly of it, we recommend StarOffice because it runs on Windows and NT, facilitating your move to open software. Both provide word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications compatible with a wide range of proprietary applications.
Mozilla or Netscape Navigator	Again, we prefer Mozilla, but we also use Netscape Navigator. We think you will be satisfied with either.
Network Environment and Tools
Sendmail	There are other MTA's some are newer, some claim to be simpler. Stick with sendmail.
The Email Sanitizer	We cannot count the number of times we and our clients have been saved by the Email Sanitizer. If you're not using this, you're not doing email right.
Squid	Life is better when you use squid. Not only does caching provide some level of performance improvement, squid provides the capability of filtering objectionable sites based on URL. This can include web-based email systems which provide alternative routes for viral infections should you choose to keep your desktops proprietary.
Apache + Tomcat	No doubt about. IIS proves why Apache is the web server of choice.
Webmin	It is simply not true that you have to be some kind of guru to administer a UNIX system. Webmin proves it.
Samba	Again, if you cannot migrate all of your desktops, and many of us cannot, you can host storage and print services on a reliable system. Samba lets you do just that.

Let us know if we can help.

• October 10, 2001 - Users Swarm to StarOffice 6 Beta (eWEEK)
• October 5, 2001 - StarOffice Offers IT Real Choice (eWEEK)
• October 4, 2001 - So Many Patches, So Little Time
  Some companies drop Microsoft IIS for Apache (INTERNETWEEK)
• March 29, 2001 - MS To Users: Pay Up (INTERNETWEEK)
• June 25, 2001 - StarOffice meet Star Wars(ZDNET News)