[PLUG] How big is Linux?
Geoff Burling
llywrch at agora.rdrop.com
Wed May 15 23:26:43 UTC 2002
On 14 May 2002, Paul Nelson wrote:
> Hello Folks,
>
> So if a local writer asked you for some facts and success stories of how
> Linux is growing and who's using it... What would you say?
>
I think that it's a safe assumption that any company of sufficient size
(e.g., with a dedicated IS staff) will have at least one Linux box
somewhere in the system. (Unless it's a *BSD box.)
My reasoning is simple: there are enough network services (DHCP, file
sharing, DNS, firewalls, etc.) that while fragile if implimented using
Microsoft technology are simple & reliable if a techie with a clue
takes an old box, installs her/his favorite *nix variant on it, performs
the necessary configuration, & thus can count on some small corner of
the network to stay stable, while lying to the PTB that yes, they have a
100% MS environment. (And if the PTB don't need to be lied to, they
don't care about the details of how the techies do their work -- & the
techie is free to adopt Linux/BSD as she/he sees fit.)
> Are there any local stories of businesses that have migrated to Linux.
> Are you able to offer up some facts and figures?
>
My wife reports that Linux is used at her current employer, Rentrak.
(She recognized it on a IT workstation.) I had a temp job earlier this
year where the head of IT admitted their firewall are a pair of Linux
boxes. When I worked at Quality Logic, the firewall for the local office
ran on Slackware Linux.
Yes, this is all anecdotal evidence. But I'm willing to bet that if
you asked any head IT guy if they ran Linux in their office, he'd admit
that there's a Linux box or two somewhere in the organization.
> If you were to make a "Who's Who?" list of business and important
> projects running Linux, who would be on it?
As far as I can tell, all supercomputing research is done on clusters
of Linux boxes, using Beowulf technology; projects using specialized
Cray, SGI or high-end Suns have dwindled in numbers to nothing, due
to the cost benefits of Linux on commodity hardware.
All computer-generated animation for movies & television are now done
on Linux boxes. Titanic & Lord of the Rings have acknowledged using
Linux technology; I expect there are more examples out there. (If any
major movie used CGI done on Win2K or NT boxes, would you expect MS
to have NOT blared their horn long & hard about it?)
Geoff
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