NEW YORK--Oracle will finish switching its 9,000-person in-house programming staff to Linux by the end of 2004, the database powerhouse said Wednesday.
In October, the company finished the Linux transition for the 5,000 programmers of its Oracle Applications software. Now the transformation has begun for those who work on the database product, said Wim Coekaerts, director of Linux engineering, in an interview at the CeBit trade show here.
"By the end of the year, (Linux) is our core platform," Coekaerts said. Oracle is switching because Linux systems are less expensive and faster, he added.
Get Up to Speed on... Open source Get the latest headlines and company-specific news in our expanded GUTS section.
Oracle's Linux efforts have caught on with customers, according to Gartner market data released Tuesday. In 2002, IBM led the market for database software on Linux, with $67 million in sales to Oracle's $45 million. But in 2003, Oracle jumped into first place with $207 million in sales to IBM's $85 million.
For its own development work, Oracle is switching from Sun Microsystems computers, he said. The new systems are provided by multiple computer makers and use several versions of Linux from the top two sellers of the open-source operating system, Red Hat and Novell.
It's not often that Oracle makes such a change. The last time it did so was in the early 1990s, moving from Digital Equipment's VMS to Sun's Solaris, he said.
Windows is the most widely used server operating system; according to Gartner, 35.1 percent of the $11.8 billion in servers sold in the first quarter of 2004 used Windows. But Oracle couldn't use Windows as its main developer environment because software written for Windows isn't portable to other operating systems, Coekaerts said.
Oracle is a major Linux backer. In addition to spending lavishly on its "unbreakable Linux" marketing campaign, it employs 14 developers who work on the kernel, or core, of Linux. The company helps fund work such as Red Hat security certifications.
The number of major IT firms adopting Linux either for internal use or as a platform for deployment of their products shows that Linux adoption may soon trickle down to the "average" business server market.
The number of major IT firms adopting Linux either for internal use or as a platform for deployment of their products shows that Linux adoption may soon trickle down to the "average" business server market.
article regarding Dell's internal use of Linux is very interesting. Why would a company which sells only Windows OS's not use them internally? I guess Dell knows whose servers are the best. As Linux apps become more prevalent, you can bet Dell will can Windows at the desktop as well. Linux is simply a much better designed OS.
actually, you can buy a Dell with linux. for example; a Dell Precision comes with " Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional or RedHat® Linux® 8.0"
article regarding Dell's internal use of Linux is very interesting. Why would a company which sells only Windows OS's not use them internally? I guess Dell knows whose servers are the best. As Linux apps become more prevalent, you can bet Dell will can Windows at the desktop as well. Linux is simply a much better designed OS.
actually, you can buy a Dell with linux. for example; a Dell Precision comes with " Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional or RedHat® Linux® 8.0"
After large numbers of longtime 'Burners' failed to get tickets during the event's recent selection process, many claimed organizers had failed to adopt a sensible system. Now, those organizers are trying to calm community anger.
Creating a tiny version of a coaxial cable, researchers at the University of California at San Diego create smallest laser to date, an advance that could lead to optical computer chips or high-resolution displays.
SolarReserve hits a milestone on a 110-megawatt solar power plant that will have between 10 and 15 hours of energy storage in tanks of molten salt for supplying Nevada.
Save on Sony HDTVs. Free shipping.
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional or RedHat® Linux® 8.0"
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/precn?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh" target="_newWindow">http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/precn?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh</a>
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional or RedHat® Linux® 8.0"
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/precn?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh" target="_newWindow">http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/compare.aspx/precn?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh</a>