Who uses Linux and Open Source in Business?

“Thanks to Glyn Moody, a UK-based technology journalist, I’ve
just learned that Netflix is not only using, but also contributing,
to numerous open-source projects. They’re in good company.

“As Kevin McEntee, Netflix’s VP of Systems & ECommerce
Engineering explained on a recent blog posting, Why we use and
contribute to open source software, “Our budget, measured in
dollars, time, people, and energy, is limited and we must therefore
focus our technology development efforts on that streaming video
software that clearly differentiates Netflix and creates delight
for our customers. These limits require that we stand on the
shoulders of giants who have solved technology challenges shared in
common by all companies that operate at Internet scale. I’m really
just articulating the classical build vs. buy trade off that
everyone deals with when developing software.

“McEntree continued, “We do utilize some commercial software but
there is often the alternative choice of utilizing open source
software, preferably open source software that implements an open
standard.”

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