Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond (ComputerWorld)

Maybe it helps to think that the main raison d'etre for a distribution is to integrate existing software and to differentiate by adding some, and that, according to the SOHO anecdote, not all of them suit your particular needs out of the box. That is to be expected.

Every problem you describe, of course, has already been solved. Especially the integration of Linux with Windows is not at all impossible, but also not something that can be yanked off the shelf, for obvious reasons. If you really want to be able to use AD features on Linux systems -- which is not necessary -- you should really complain at some Microsoft forum about this.

Disclaimer: it has been a while since I actually integrated anything useful, but I am writing this from my Linux desktop, in an arguably more challenging environment than your trivial example.