With the unsure economy and Microsoft Vista failing to gain overwhelming acceptance, many people are considering a migration to Linux. As a supporter of Linux and open source, I regard this new popularity as a coup — but it comes with a hint of danger. What happens when the average IT department doesn’t take its time examining the pros and cons before doing the migration? Although I find Linux to be far superior to Windows, certain criteria MUST be considered before making the switch. Otherwise, you may find yourself having to back-pedal to square one. If you’re considering a migration to Linux, be sure to answer these 10 questions first.

#1: Will that proprietary, mission-critical application run on the new platform?

One of the first things I tell people who are considering a migration is that, yes, most likely there is a Linux equivalent to the application you use. Photoshop? Gimp. Adobe Reader? Scribus. But there are certain instances where an application has been written specifically for a purpose (or company) and does not have a cross-platform equivalent. In this case, I would say you could try running your application with Wine or you could run a virtual instance of Windows to get that app running. But this takes time and effort and, in some cases, isn’t as stable as one would like (especially in the case of Wine).

#2: Which desktop are you planning to use?

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