Linux has become a very mature operating system and has been especially successful in the web server market (According to IDC (www.idc.com), a leading IT research consultancy, Linux market share within the Web server sector stands at approximately a third (and will grow to 41 per cent by 2005.) Linux is an open source operating system and is very reliable and economical. The licensing cost for RedHat Linux is less than $150.00 and does not require the purchase of any 'seat licensing', etc. for authenticated users. Redhat Linux is used by many large organizations including Amazon.com and Toyota. Historically, Linux has been victim of far fewer security issues than IIS and is very well suited to remote administration.

Apache web server is the dominant market player in the web server software arena. A recent Netcraft web server survey shows Apache with better than a 62% market share (as contrasted with a 27% share for IIS).

PostgreSQL and Mysql are both open source database products. They are comparable in many respects with Microsoft's SQL server, but are open source and require no licensing fees. They are designed to support a large number of concurrent users (unlike MS Access) and are stable, mature, have commercial distributions and are well supported. Many organizations from large corporations, to government institutions, to small online businesses have implemented PostgreSQL or Mysql to handle their most valuable data and mission critical applications.
Some advantages are:

• No per-user license means no license administration and low Total Cost of Ownership
• Exceptional performance and speed
• Uncompromising reliability
• World-class security
• Flexibility to be extended as required
• Highly scalable design
• Worldwide Independent Software Vendor (ISV) network
• Extensive support options
• Minimal administration requirements
• ANSI Standards Compliance
• One of the strongest development communities in the world
• A global reputation for high quality software engineering.