Those of us with binary vendor releases improve our environment by downloading publicly available application source code, compiling it, and running it on our platforms. This often vastly improves the workstation situation by supplementing the standard vendor packages. One can spend enormous amounts of time obtaining and configuring publicly available packages to one's platform. Source code UNIX systems have various methods for configuring third-party applications. These facilities make it simple to install the latest versions of thousand of applications that come with source code.
Some examples are audio tools, mail systems, Web utilities, databases, and graphics packages.
I'll dedicate a column in the future to reviewing ports and packages. In this environment, you can set up a powerful backup capability for the clients. Users who have Win95 will be happy, and you, the administrator, will be happy, too. Of course, it is reasonable that traditional UNIX vendors get a premium for their carefully integrated and balanced systems. If you can't support your system or you don't want to do any of the integration work, then source code UNIX may not be for you.