On September the 17th 1991 Linus Torvalds officially released
the first version of his own operating system "Linux" in the internet and
hereby set off an avalange, which today - 16 years later - is accelerating
more rapidly than every before.
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Currently it is assumed that every forth server is shipped
with Linux. On the desktop Linux gains ground, too. Examples are the
police Lower Saxony (Polizei Niedersachen) operating 12,000 Linux
desktops and the city of Munich, which has decided to migrate
14,000 desktops to Linux.
In other areas Linux has become defacto standard. The leading search
enginge Google is operated by a Linux cluster more than 10,000 nodes!
The reason: Linux does not only offer enormous potential for cost reduction
but also strategic and political advantages, e.g.:
- Independence of a vendor
- Development of know how in the own country
- Stimuli for local service providers
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