Microsoft server just works. Hah!
An a related note, I, too, am in the process of building a new video management system based on windows (why anyone would want to sit and stare at solar PV panels all day is beyond me). Install and set up has been a breeze.
Don't get me wrong, I'm more likely to use linux for things. Most of my development is done on linux, our video wall display management, AMI emulation platform, any many other tools and utilities, but MS does have its place, and where it fits, it usually beats everything else in set up configuration and management.
Microsoft might have had its place. On the desktop. 5-10 years ago. But for environments where you need uptime? No. No. No.
EDIT: With regards to your video management system, does it have to be broadcast grade? Mine does. The FCC doesn't let you explain away fines for not being on the air "because the Windows box crashed".
With that in mind: It just works!
With any large deployment (100 users isn't large) there are bound to be difficulties. That isn't the exclusive realm of Microsoft. As mentioned elsewhere, have you ever done a large deployment of kerberos? I have. I'll take AD on the infrastructure side any day. "Sideways" AD is a whole lot easier to manage than a sideways MIT Kerberos5 KDC.
Microsoft does have its place. In the enterprise, in the server room, today.
Anyone who doesn't agree, hasn't tried to setup the Kerboros LDAP crap on Linux.
In fact, even saying that the LDAP portion is extended is a bit misleading. In fact, AD implements a fully compliant LDAP interface. It does lack the more common LDAP Schemas (though they can be installed if you wish), and relies on a schema that MS developed, but the LDAP server is not, itself, extended.
I'm guessing Microsoft isn't your problem.
MySQL + IIS + Win2008. The server was cheap, fast, and trivial to set up and operate. I'd have no concerns about using Windows Server again.
Just because someone was not able use the right tool for the right job in your instance doesn't prove anything. One of my friends used Windows Server to stream popular sports and got so much traffic that he got shutdown by Dish.
Amazon? Linux. Google? Linux. Apple? Linux. Large Hadron Collider? All. Linux.
Using Microsoft server in a production environment? Gonna have a bad time. There's a reason most sane people don't use it in important places.
I don't hate on Microsoft server products because its in fashion. Its because I like to sleep at night.
True if you are speaking about the custom built machines doing real time data analysis.
However, many users have Mac OS X and Windows as their desktop machines.
When I was there (2003-2004), quite a few researchers were even moving away from LaTeX to Word and FrameMaker.
There are a few ASP.NET servers at CERN.
I have had many windows servers and often you can almost just forget about them entirely once they're setup, which takes all of like 2 hours even if you're using a whole new stack.
I agree that you can't color Microsoft's server offerings by their older products (Server 2000, 2003). I do agree that 2008/2012 are much more solid products comparitively speaking, but I still would not use them in a production environment for several reasons:
Debugging: Have you ever attempted to debug edge case issues in a Windows server environment? I don't mean ASP/.Net issues, but I mean issues within Server itself (random reboots, OS hang, etc). Sometimes, your only answer is "Windows does that occasionally". I have Linux servers with uptime measured in thousands of days, almost as stable as the solid state networking gear.
Cost: I worked on the CMS detector for data taking at the LHC. We had over 6000 servers, not only doing data crunching but also providing REST services, database services (for both data and parallel file system metadata). Everything was Linux. The licensing cost alone for just the Windows OS on all of those machines would have been massive.
Patching/Upgrades: The only time you need to reboot a Linux box is when you're upgrading/patching the Kernel. Windows boxes? Patch Tuesday. Rarely have software updates broken a Linux box, and if they do, its much easier to revert back to a previously known good config.
I can go into greater detail if necessary. I agree, 12 years of experience is just a drop in the bucket, and my experiences are anecdotal in nature. I just rarely see (if ever) someone using Microsoft software in missions critical environments.
Stackoverflow and Newegg use a vanilla Microsoft Stack.