I have spent 10 years working with MS SQL Server, two and a bit developing in .Net (VB and C#...no ASP) and used Ubuntu for two years at home as a personal ethical choice.
I've now become hacked off (no pun intended) with MS attitude to their customers, particularly small to medium sized businesses who don't have unlimited budgets to upgrade on every new software release. This isn't a MS rant though.
I am seriously considering switching from the Dark Side and spending a year learning mid-level Linux sysadmin skills, MySQL & PHP & Apache, and possibly some Perl or Python, getting as many certificates as possible, and then looking for work with these skills.
Has anyone else done similar? Did you find employers valued your experience on MS products? Are their specific skillsets you would recommend? Did you have to take a salary cut?
How easy was the switch technically-were you heavily challenged by the new knowledge or was it a case of 'oh so thats the equivalent of this'?
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has made a similar move.