We needed to overcome the 10 user limit of Windows XP Professional and the 20 user limit of Windows 7 Professional (they currently have 15 PC's + 3 virtual PC's so although Win7 would work, it would JUST work... providing no room for expansion). And we wanted to do it at a reasonable price.
I also wanted to provide VPN capabilities, which one can setup on a mac server in seconds (vs. the hours I spent fighting with Cisco units over the years).
(edit: not all that unexpected, got an email just now: "Our US salesperson wishes to log on remotely (lives in the USA) to our server. Can we talk about putting in a remote access connection to our files?" With the VPN in place this is a simple matter of adding his account... what could have been a whole discussion has turned into a simple matter of adding an account in 30 seconds.)
I also anticipate this company utilizing Mac's more in the future and wanted to have the ability to have OD control in the future.
And last, I also wanted to have a nice, familiar, interface in which to run offsite backup software, to monitor the health of the system etc.
Would a linux server have done all of this (sans Simply)? Perhaps. But I am not familiar with them and don't want to learn at the possible expense of my clients (and then ultimately my reputation).
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Yes you could update Samba separately, but then lose some of the integration with a nice out the box system.
