 |
 |
| ActiveWin | Anonymous | Create a User | Reviews | News | Forums | Advertise | VBA in Excel | Users Online: 0 |
|
|
|
|
|
User Controls |
|
New User |
|
Login |
|
Edit/View My Profile |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active Network |
|
ActiveMac |
|
ActiveWin |
|
ActiveXbox |
|
DirectX |
|
Downloads |
|
FAQs |
|
Interviews |
|
MS Games & Hardware |
|
Reviews |
|
Rocky Bytes |
|
Support Center |
|
TopTechTips |
|
Windows 2000 |
|
Windows Me |
|
Windows Server 2003 |
|
Windows Vista |
|
Windows XP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
News Centers |
|
Windows/Microsoft |
|
Apple/Mac |
|
Xbox/Xbox 360 |
|
News Search |
|
XML/RSS Newsfeeds |
|
Pocket PC Site |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ's |
|
Windows Vista |
|
Windows 98/98 SE |
|
Windows 2000 |
|
Windows Me |
|
Windows Server 2003 |
|
Windows XP |
|
Windows 7 |
|
Windows 8 |
|
Internet Explorer 6 |
|
Internet Explorer 5 |
|
Xbox 360 |
|
Xbox |
|
DirectX |
|
DVD's |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Latest Reviews |
|
Xbox/Games |
|
Fable 2 |
|
|
|
Applications |
|
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
|
Windows 7 |
|
Adobe CS5 Master Collection |
|
|
|
Hardware |
|
Microsoft Express Mouse |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Latest Interviews |
|
Mike Swanson |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site News/Info |
|
About This Site |
|
Advertise |
|
Affiliates |
|
Contact Us |
|
Default Home Page |
|
Link To Us |
 |
Linux waddles from obscurity to the big time | |
|
||
| Time: 00:01 EST/05:01 GMT | News Source: USA Today | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
|
When investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein began making the switch to the Linux computer operating system in 1999, it did so to save money. Then Dresdner discovered a bonus: Linux, the upstart open-source operating system, was not only cheaper -- but also faster. The Unix servers took 17 hours to calculate how much cash the bank needed in reserve to offset its investment risk. The Linux servers made the same calculation in 11 minutes Already popular as an inexpensive driver of Web pages, e-mail systems and computer servers on the edges of corporate networks, Linux has begun seeping into corporate data centers where serious computing takes place. As it does, it promises to boost information-technology productivity. But it could also discombobulate two of the biggest tech players -- Sun Microsystems, the dominant Unix supplier, and Microsoft, which is pushing for Windows servers, not Linux, to usurp Unix. ''The real horse race, long term, is going to be between Linux and Windows,'' says Bill Claybrook, analyst at Aberdeen Group. Microsoft paints Linux as a threat to intellectual property rights. Software developers who make their applications Linux-ready risk losing their proprietary products to the public domain, Microsoft warns. From the Sun and Microsoft view, Linux has not proved robust enough to handle computing chores much beyond the edges of corporate networks. ''All the noise and optimism of the early adopters doesn't in any way guarantee Linux will cross into the mainstream,'' says Peter Houston, Microsoft's Windows server products director. |
||
|
Read Only Comments Return to News |
Displaying Comments 1 through 7 of 7 |
This is an archived static copy of ActiveWin.com. |
| #1 By 7721 (4.61.251.218) at Tuesday, August 06, 2002 02:32:36 AM |
| lol, what OS race?!? Linux is hardly a threat, not to mention it being an unworthy competitor! |
| #2 By 6253 (12.237.219.240) at Tuesday, August 06, 2002 09:44:23 AM |
|
dave815, the story does say that hardware was replaced (with cheaper hardware, which is the main point), but even if the hardware were equivalent in performance, the "calculation" process probably included a great deal of disk I/O. The investment bank's portfolio was obviously a lot of data if it required 40 Linux boxes (and previously 32 Unix boxes), so it isn't the sort of thing you load entirely into RAM and simply crunch numbers on. It's not too hard to believe that Linux is doing disk I/O faster than an old implementation of Unix. Unfortunately, the story never gets around to mentioning how old, but I'm willing to bet that investment banks do not rip out $1.6M (32 x $50,000) worth of computers until every bit of it is fully depreciated. Even if the geeks want to, and make a compelling argument, starched collar financial organizations make capital expenditure decisions by the books. So for all we know, we're comparing the performance of 1999 Linux with 1979 Unix. Also remember that there has never been a commodity Unix for high-end hardware, so no matter what Unix was being used, it was a proprietary Unix intended solely for its particular hardware and thus the vendor had zero incentive to tune it. After all, tuning the OS would make it less necessary for people to buy its bigger and more expensive boxes.
This article is really just another example of how Linux is clobbering Unix. Somehow, Windows gets dragged into the fight. At the end of the article, a company with "Unix-savvy tech staff" chooses Linux and makes some digs at Windows as if the company really evaluated Windows on its merits as a product. More likely, they chose not to retrain/replace their entire staff. |
| #3 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at Tuesday, August 06, 2002 10:40:39 AM |
|
chozsun - "Why are there more UNIX-based servers hosting more websites than Windows? "
Actually there aren't. Halcyon-X12 - Why would that be odd? holedup - Actually it is hard to believe Linux is doing faster disk I/O as that is a particular weakness of the x86 architecture compared to the RISC archs used by Unix. It seems more likely that they were able to take advantage of buying faster processors for a lower price. But yes, Linux is only battling with Unix. The only way Windows loses is that they don't gain marketshare quite as fast as they might have without Linux. |
| #4 By 20 (24.243.41.64) at Tuesday, August 06, 2002 12:10:18 PM |
| It's a shame that many people are ignorant to Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Datacenter. Many people still think that Windows = Win9x and so they, rightfully so, feel that Windows is a joke as a server. They don't understand that WinNT/2K/XP are a completely different kernel that is superior in design to many Unix kernels and certainaly to the Linux kernel. |
| #5 By 1845 (12.254.129.73) at Tuesday, August 06, 2002 04:02:27 PM |
| HP purchasing Sun is something I'd love to see. That would put quite an interesting spin on the HP/Compaq relationship with Microsoft. |
| #6 By 135 (208.50.201.48) at Tuesday, August 06, 2002 11:33:58 PM |
|
Drestin - Fascinating.
Anyone want to put money on this not making it to the front page of slashdot? Linux advocates are much like Arabs, they puff up their chests and claim they are great but the instant bad news appears about them they hide their heads in the sand and claim it is a plot by the American imperialists to distort the record. |
| #7 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at Wednesday, August 07, 2002 10:33:27 AM |
|
athlonrulz - It's comparing to a culture, not race. I base that comment off some comments made by a former Libyan minister interviewed in the UK.
fn0rd - That's because Linux advocates like to puff up the numbers by stuffing polls. |
