Author is responsible for a majority of the Air Force software programs, but this experience is his first trial-by-fire.  That said, not surprised that his first approach to the problem was to develop his own hardware and software standard.  It would have been better to identify AOCs with the best practices and standardize a proven setup.<p>I admire his advocacy for use of open source software, but his primary pitch is a reduction of costs.  Any organization that switches to open source for the purpose of promised dramatically reduced operating costs is fooling themselves.  The true benefit of open source is much more than savings.