[CS-FSLUG] Who uses Linux and Open Source in Business?

[Fred A. Miller]

Thanks to Glyn Moody, a UK-based technology journalist 
http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/authors/#authorId87, I've just 
learned that Netflix http://www.netflix.com is not only using, but 
also contributing, to numerous open-source projects. They're in good 
company.
...........................

Netflix is far from the only business that benefits from open source 
though. People tend to think of Linux and open-source software as 
benefiting only technology businesses such as IBM, Oracle, and Red Hat. 
That's not at all the case.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter, all best known as Web companies, depend 
on Linux and open-source software to handle their hundreds of millions 
to billions of daily users. Indeed, without open-source software I doubt 
very much that any of that trio would be as big as they are today.

It's not just businesses that center on technology that have found Linux 
and open source help their bottom line. The London Stock Exchange, for 
example, just switched to Millennium Exchange, which is based around 
Linux 
http://practical-tech.com/operating-system/london-stock-exchange-moves-to-linux/. 
Other stock exchanges such as Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) the New 
York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Tokyo Stock Exchange. etc., etc.

Why have all these businesses done this? It's not because any of these 
businesses love Linux or open-source for their own sake or to stick it 
to Microsoft or other proprietary software companies. They do it because 
Linux and open-source software tends to be cheaper, faster, more stable, 
and gives them more control over the software. In short, open-source and 
Linux works well for business.


Full story:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/who-uses-linux-and-open-source-in-business/7951

-- 
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."
Thomas Jefferson

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ofb.biz/pipermail/christiansource_ofb.biz/attachments/20101215/00f66ad5/attachment.htm>