There shouldn't be one big worldwide operating system like there is with Microsoft, people's needs are very different in different situations. Ultimately, people will want the software that suits them and not what the software manufacturers throw at them. Eventually they will find some Linux specialist who builds exactly what they need with Linux at the base.

A good example of the flexibility of Linux is in internationalisation. Because it's open source, anyone can pick that code up and adapt it, and do it with all their own cultural nuances. At one point Iceland had a problem because Microsoft looked at it and said, here's a small country, we won't be doing an Icelandic version of Windows anytime soon. This was unfortunate for Iceland as they are rather attached to their language, having spoken it for more than 1,000 years. So some guys took Linux and translated it into Icelandic.

The deployment of OpenSource Software means:

Can you, as a small business, afford not to use it?

SOPAC(WA) is a member of SLPWA, the Society of Linux Professionals of Western Australia