No second thoughts on Linux use

Red Hat reports that its revenue and profits are up. Research firm International Data Corp. says Linux server shipments are up 63% from a year ago, and that server sales generated close to $1 billion during the last quarter. Novell invested millions in acquiring SuSE Linux AG and is banking its comeback, in large part, on enterprise Linux. The numbers don't lie. At a bare minimum, they're affirmation that Linux is gaining stature as a mission-critical enterprise platform. Even the reality of the SCO Group's lawsuits against AutoZone Inc. and DaimlerChrysler Corp. don't seem to have scared enterprises off from pursuing their Linux and open source projects.

"We cannot have second thoughts about using Linux, as I had the great pleasure of converting our last Windows server to Linux a couple years ago," said Dan Smith, an administrator with the Intelligent Systems Lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "And in a year or two, [we] will be able to retire the last of our Sun [servers]. We could not provide one-third of the services and abilities we currently do if we did not use Linux as our primary operating system."

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