Why GNU/Linux?

Unix (and variants, including AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and Linux) is the operating system running around 80 percent of all Internet servers in the world. Unix was developed in the 1960s and is the foundation of the Internet. It is a mature and stable product.

GNU/Linux was started in 1984 and modelled after Unix. Linux is the most common kernel of the GNU operating system. In just a few years GNU/Linux has gone from concept to reality to superiority.

As a rather powerful statement on the subject consider that Microsoft itself uses Linux and Unix. In an Aug. 21, 2003 article, Linux Online says, Microsoft Is Using Linux To Protect Its Own Web Site: Microsoft has made a big deal out of asserting that Linux is not fit for the enterprise. But Microsoft itself is using Linux to help protect its servers against denial-of-service attacks. The whole article can be found here. On top of this, a source believed to be reliable (former consultant to Microsoft) says that Hotmail still runs on Unix to this day.

Windows does some nice things and makes a fun game machine for kids. For running Internet servers, however, it is probably not the best choice. GNU/Linux can take more effort to install but about the same effort to learn as any other operating system. The big difference is that, once running, GNU/Linux is significantly more reliable than non-Unix alternatives.

A unique advantage GNU/Linux has over other operating systems is that most of it is free and Open Source. Open Source means that you receive the source code to the product. One of the important benefits of this is that you can know there are no “back doors” or other defficiencies in the software.

In contrast, source code for commercial software is never distributed. When problems or special needs arise, other software leaves you with virtually no solutions. With GNU/Linux, a system administrator has the ability to correct the software rather than waiting until a commercial publisher decides to fix or enhance it and release an updated version. Even if you are not a programmer yourself, other programmers will fix the problem for you if you post your findings on the Internet. Updates for GNU software, including the Linux kernel itself, are released several times per year, and in almost all cases these updates are free. Compare that with others which will keep you waiting for 2 years or more for a bug to be fixed and then charge handsomely for you to purchase the update.

GNU/Linux almost never needs rebooting. Even from the first time you load it. Compare this to MSWindows which requires multiple reboots during initial loading, frequent reboots when settings are changed, and daily reboots to keep a server stable. Thus, GNU/Linux saves operator time and maintains near 100% server up-time.

With commercial products you'll pay $1,000 to $15,000 (or more) for every feature you add to each server. For example, the unlimited version of the Sendmail e-mail server software costs $15,000 for Windows NT. If you have two mail servers you'll need to pay for two copies. This same unlimited version is free for GNU/Linux. Thus, using GNU/Linux will save an ISP $100,000 to $750,000 or more in software licensing costs.

GNU/Linux is now supported by major hardware vendors, such as IBM and HP. IBM is putting GNU/Linux on their eServers. HP started shipping Itanium workstations running GNU/Linux in Sept. 2002. In March 2002 IBM announced it's latest product for telcos using GNU/Linux. HP announced in Oct. 2001 that is was considering switching to GNU/Linux for its Journada palmtops; read about that here.

Jeff Wall, production manager of Mahaffeys' Quality Printing in Jackson, Mississippi wrote an article about his company's experiences with GNU/Linux and NT. In that article he says, “Recent testing of high-performance file-sharing tools for the Graphic Arts industry has shown Linux to be the top performer. We tested Linux against the Macintosh OS X Server, the Sun Solaris and the Windows NT server. Linux came out on top, yielding a blazing average of 8800kB/sec throughput over 100Base-T Ethernet. We have been using an NT server in this role for two years, but it has been stumbling under the load placed on it in the last year. Now, we restart the [NT] server each day in order to avoid hanging the print services.” You can read his article in Linux Journal.

If you would like to read about why the University of Nebraska chose GNU/Linux over NT, click here. It's getting rather old (1997) but is still a worthwhile read.

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