ComputerWorld: GM Eyes Linux for 7,500 Dealer Systems

"Forget about whether the Fortune 1,000 is interested in Linux. Try the Fortune One. General Motors Corp., the largest corporation in the U.S., is reviewing Linux to run the order management applications at GM's approximately 7,500 North American dealerships."

"...David E. Hutka, operations manager of GM Access, the dealership network, told Computerworld senior writer David Orenstein that the automaker is considering a move from Windows to Linux only because of how much the Microsoft Corp. operating system taxes server hardware."

"Q: Why Linux?
A: Our main problem today is not the operating system; it's the hardware and the infrastructure. We are looking at replacing the server in each dealership. While we are doing that, do we also change the operating system? We've got applications banging on the door to get in but ... we don't have the hard disk space. It's been reported that Linux is stable and has low support costs, and it has a small footprint on the hard disk and memory. The (fewer) resources the operating system takes up, the more you can do with your applications. Linux has no licensing issues."

Complete Story

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