"...there is no way Wal-Mart would entrust its IT services to an outside contractor or even to several outside contractors. Doing so would threaten the entire organization. If costs are out of control and services are inconsistent, that's something to be dealt with internally, not by hoping some outside organization is smarter or more disciplined. "We have suppliers, sure, but the ultimate responsibility always remains here in Bentonville," said my Ozark IT guy. "We centralize it, we control it, we know what we are buying and what we are doing with it. Anything less is just too much of a risk."

"It's like riding the train vs. driving your own car"

1. No per user mailbox charges
2. No waiting to add new users
3. Aliases and lists
4. Printers and faxes and other special emails
5. Virus and spam
6. Privacy
7. Control

Check out some of the other great Unix articles by Tony Lawrence.