OPEN For Business! is all about how you can replace proprietary technologies with superior Open Source alternatives, slashing your costs, vastly improving speed and reliability and, perhaps even more important, allowing you to wrest back control of your IT infrastructure from the proprietary IT suppliers.

Let's make this month's OPEN For Business really topical after all, they're in the news yet again, in the papers, on the TV.

Yep, we're talking about VIRUSES. And I'm going to show you how, with Open Source software, you can effectively eradicate the problem for your business, once and for all!

Think back. Have you ever had to reformat and reinstall your desktops because of the latest virus epidemic? Have you had your email service taken out, or your web site made unavailable, for days? Have you had inboxes filled with floods of messages like "I sent you this file in order to get your advice" and "Really cool screensaver". Have you had management screaming at you to get the business back up and, at the same time, users phoning every few minutes complaining about yet another IT failure? Have you ever had those embarrassing interrogations as to why we got hit by viruses, again? And how much time, money and energy did you have to waste trying to fix it all?

Now, just imagine a world where this never happens.

I, and a rapidly increasing number of businesses, already live in that world. You can too. And, guess what, it's simple, very quick and easy to do, and it saves the business a fortune - not only from the cost of virus damage, but also in time, software licences and CALs. Now, won't the business like that!

What's the scale of the problem?:

I've seen many published estimates of the business cost of viruses. Regardless of which you believe, even the smallest estimate comes out at over £6 billion each year! So the damage to business is considerable, each epidemic is worse than the last, and every few weeks or so (like a London bus), along comes another one. Melissa, Sobig.F, Sven, Nimda, FunLove, Code Red, Bugbear, Klez, the list goes on and on and on.

The board, users, management, the IT team, everybody - we all hate them. But we've come to accept them, and expect them. After all, they're a part of computing life, aren't they?

Well, actually NO.

What's the reality of viruses?:

There is a set of widely held beliefs about the virus problem that, over time, seems to have become mainstream virus orthodoxy. They have been repeated over and over, mantra-like, by the vendors, the press and TV, the 'anti-virus' industry and 'technical experts' until they've been adopted by users, management, and perhaps, even by you. They are cherished like religious beliefs.

They are, however, untrue:

• You have been told that viruses are a computer problem. They are not. They are a Microsoft problem.
• You have been told that viruses are an email problem. They are not. They are a Microsoft Outlook problem.
• You have been told that viruses will be as common on Linux when it has Microsoft's market share. They will not. Its architecture makes epidemics effectively impossible.
• You have been told that expensive anti-virus software is the solution. It is not. You've bought it, but you still get them.
• You have been told that viruses are inevitable, part of the computing experience. They are not. They are a consequence of flawed software design.

You've been living in a dream world Neo!

Time to take the red pill?:

The critical step is to realise that Microsoft software is almost entirely to blame. It is the problem, always has been the problem and, through the fundamental flaws in the underlying design and implementation of the software itself, will always be the problem. So the solution is simple, and blindingly obvious. Replace it!

And this is precisely where Open Source software comes in.

Open Source software doesn't have these problems, never has, and never will. It's simply better software. So you can eliminate your virus problems and, while you're doing that, gain loads of the other crucial business benefits and savings that Open Source delivers. Let's get started.

As usual the Pareto effect, the 80/20 rule, applies the certain areas give you the biggest returns for least effort. They can be tackled first, simply and very, very quickly. This way IT gets a clear, high profile, instant win. Now, there's a first!

Let me give you some examples.

Viruses wreak havoc with, and spread like wildfire around, Windows File and Print servers - so don't use them. Replace them with Samba. Samba does everything that Windows servers do, and then some, but does it far, far better. Samba 3 is now out and has been benchmarked at two and a half times faster than W3K and over four times as scalable. So, not only is it impervious to viruses, it is quicker, more reliable, and more scalable. It also saves your business an absolute fortune in licence fees and CALs.

Most viruses exploit Outlook right there on the user's desktop - so stop using it. Use Mozilla Messenger instead. It's full featured, faster and better and, for all you multi-platform businesses out there, it's available on all of them. You can tailor how it looks (your MD will love that) and, of course, has shared calendaring as standard. Viruses can't pull the 'Outlook Address Book Trick". And, guess what, it doesn't lose emails!

Most viruses enter your network via email and pass through your mail server. And Exchange is desperately vulnerable. You should replace it with the far better Open Source alternative. If you really want to save on licence fees and CALs big, big time, this is The One! And, of course, while you're at it, replace ISA (see last month's Open For Business for full details) and you'll gain even more!

Viruses just love IIS. So, whatever you do, don't use it. Deploy Apache instead. You'll gain unprecedented uptimes (years, not weeks) plus see an instant performance increase. It's great to see a server just sitting there, quietly in the corner, simply doing its job, and not needing continual nursing, patching, and maintenance.

Do all this and next time the latest Windows virus epidemic comes around, you'll be sitting, like us, wondering what all the fuss is about! Your users will thank you, your staff will thank you, and your board will thank you. OK. Maybe not. But we all like to dream don't we!

So there you have it. You've eradicated a massive and costly IT and business problem. No more viruses. Plus you've delivered a far faster, far more reliable service from IT, and cash savings that any Finance Director in any business would die for. It was quick and it was easy - and all simply because it's better software.