Considering Small Business move from Microsoft to Apple - desire feedback

Question

I am considering migrating my organization of 130 users from the Microsoft stack (Server 2003/2008 with XP workstations) to Apple. I am interested on real world feedback on the following issues:
(1) What online resources are there for planning a staged migration (e.g. domain controller, then file server, then mail & collaboration?)
(2) When would you recommend phasing in Apple client machines? Should I have all the servers replaced first or will SL clients and SL Server play nicely with Windows AD?
(3) With all .NET apps, we will run Fusion or Parallels at first, but I want to migrate apps from Office 2007 to Google Apps. Any voice of experience pro or con?
(4) I am leaning towards Google for mail/calendaring/collaboration, but SL Server includes mail/iCal/iChat - recommendations?
(5) For web hosting, I know SL Server comes with the AMP stack so should I expect to use Apple's tools for administration or go with MAMP / MAMP Pro?
Thank you for your recommendations and experience

Answer 1

(1) What online resources are there for planning a staged migration (e.g. domain controller, then file server, then mail & collaboration?)
I'm not aware of a server migration document off-hand.
Server environments tend to vary, too. Widely.
Check with the Apple Business folks as a start. They might have something here.
(2) When would you recommend phasing in Apple client machines? Should I have all the servers replaced first or will SL clients and SL Server play nicely with Windows AD?
This is going to be a substantial project, no matter what. You can configure to play nicely, for instance, but that's differently than a native environment, for instance.
(3) With all .NET apps, we will run Fusion or Parallels at first, but I want to migrate apps from Office 2007 to Google Apps. Any voice of experience pro or con?
Microsoft .NET is platform-specific. You need Windows or maybe Mono for applications with a dependency on that, or a port to native applications.
If you go the route of Google or other large-scale slices (and there are folks that offer fully outsourced as well as slices), then look to how you're going to manage and maintain and archive it. Make no mistake, you'll want a stable archive of your data somewhere that doesn't involve the vendor you're working with; locally, or at another provider that's not associated with your primary provider.
Typical user documents using Microsoft Office hauls across nicely into iWork, though there are any number of ways you can incorporate features and extensions that won't port across.
(4) I am leaning towards Google for mail/calendaring/collaboration, but SL Server includes mail/iCal/iChat - recommendations?
That's your call. Both work. If you're running your own server, you get to own the IT costs.
(5) For web hosting, I know SL Server comes with the AMP stack so should I expect to use Apple's tools for administration or go with MAMP / MAMP Pro?
Again, that's your call. If you're getting going and don't need (for instance) a php rebuild or some other widget that's dependent on the innards of Apache, then the integrated stack will have a wider audience for you should you encounter questions.