Let me first preface this by saying that I have little formal training, I am
not an IT guy and have only been tinkering with linux and Ubuntu at home for
a couple of years. I don't know how large your firm is or what the demands
of this program are or what your budget is, but you could set up a dedicated
linux server to run the program if it is that important. Then install
something like Putty or Bitvise's Tunnelier on the Windows desktop machines
so they can log in remotely using SSH and have them run the program from
there. Seems to me it would use far fewer resources on the client computers
and give users an easy way to access a command prompt from any desktop OS.
It would also give you more control over what they can do with the software
and make updates or patches easier to apply across the board. If the
program involves sensitive client data, it should also make sense from a
security standpoint. Also, you would only be managing one linux box instead
of managing 2 OS's for every employee who uses the program. I would love to
learn more about this process, so feel free to tell me that this is a
ridiculous idea and why!