What are some different Operating Systems for a small/ medium sized business?

I don't know a lot about Operating Systems and I am looking for different options. Any advise of some options for a small or medium sized business? Also prices of these. I will need 5-10 computers networked together with email. Thanks!!

What are some different Operating Systems for a small/ medium sized business?
The main ones are:





Windows - about $300


OS X - about $100 but requires Apple hardware


Linux - free


FreeBSD - free





Support contracts tend to cost extra for all of the above.
Reply:Linux, and there are may open source, free distributions, is an option for many hardware platforms and has excellent networking capabilities. The up side is performance, security, and cost. The down side is there is a learning curve, you may find that some commercial software is not available and you can't find and equivalent. I use PClinuxOS on one of my machines and am very satisfied with it. Easy installation and a lot of preloaded software.
Reply:I think the limiting factor for this decision will be the requirements for the software you will be running.





FYI - Accounting systems are often the last to be converted to a new operating system. At my last job, they are still using Win2000 as it was stable and the accounting package ran very well on it.