"The virtues of Linux are well known: It's free, open source and pretty cool, especially if it's running in a bunch of high-volume locations, like a chain of retail stores. Issues of support and reliability have been addressed to some degree as well. For example, over the summer, Oracle ported its database engine and apps to Red Hat's Linux distribution and announced that it would offer enterprise-level operating system support, thus joining Veritas, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell on the Linux bandwagon. Even Linux's performance is starting to look good.
"But despite these advances, it's still unclear whether going with Linux (your CFO's interest in anything free notwithstanding) can save you money inside the data center.
"Brian Richardson, program director at Meta Group, says that while Linux has moved from 'bleeding-edge' to 'early-adopter' status, multiprocessor CPU deployments are rare..."
