I guess that the answer for both questions are very explicit, anyway I'll try to be brief.

Despite everything already said and written about advantages / disadvantages of Open Source / Proprietary Software (mainly MS), the IT world seems to be evolving. I don't have any kind of problem using MS products myself. Even at the company where I work, we do still use some MS products, but not for so long! As IT manager, I had the challenge to cut the costs of the department. First step: linux server. Now we're moving forward to renew the IT culture and replace every Windows Station with any linux flavour. That's not only a question of cost, but also of practise. Hell, what I read seemed like a MS Press Release.