Linux as an Enterprise Desktop?

Maintaining Windows for a large number of machines is starting to drive IT folks nuts. One solution being tossed around is to install Linux and a piece of Virtualization software, then run Windows:

Over the last couple of years, there's been a lot of talk about the possibility of Linux making the jump from servers to desktops as a replacement for the ubiquitous Windows operating system. It hasn't happened, at least not in any meaningful way, and it doesn't appear likely to anytime soon. But maybe the real role of Linux on the desktop won't be as a replacement for Windows but as an underpinning for it. Writing on the Security Focus website, Scott Granneman argues that companies should be installing Linux as the default desktop OS and then running Windows virtually on top of it.

Why? For better security. He points to the dire assessment of Windows malware threats that Microsoft security specialist Mike Danseglio presented at a recent conference. "When you are dealing with rootkits and some advanced spyware programs," Danseglio advised, "the only solution is to rebuild from scratch. In some cases, there really is no way to recover without nuking the systems from orbit."

...Running Windows virtually, Granneman says, "will make your life infinitely easier":

If a you receive a phone call that a problem has developed on Bob's "Windows computer" in legal, just use SSH to run a script that closes the virtualization software, blows away or backs up the damaged Windows image so that you can review it, and then copies a master copy of the Windows VM from your server. In just a few minutes Bob will be back up and running, and he'll never know how easy you have it.

If the mac were cheaper and had all the needed arcane software running on it, I would opt for the mac as my Enterprise desktop. Interesting discussion on this subject at Nick Carr's blog.