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Korean Air Mission Critical Systems Moved to Linux
securitas writes "ZDNet is reporting that Korean Air has decided to move its flight-crew scheduling and daily accounting systems to Linux running on an IBM mainframe, and 5000 users will access this information through their browsers starting in September.
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Rubbermaid previously outsourced the same function and paid $6,000 per month. Watkins said he spent about 200 hours getting the Linux system up and running, but that it's now "pretty much self-sustaining." Rubbermaid purchased mainframe Linux for $180 from SuSE.
Rubbermaid's Watkins, a Microsoft-certified systems engineer, said Microsoft officials could talk about their own problems, rather than those of open source code. "Microsoft's NT was a good platform, but it had its share of problems," he said.
Talk about a feel-good article. KAL isn't really using it for much (What? Daily revenue isn't much?), but to see an airline using it is a really good moral boost. Reading about the other companies meant more to me, though. It's nice to read about actual successes- I read about the technical successes all the time. Hell of a way to start the day.
I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.
Remeber in the cold war arms race, when if the Russians had some technology the American government had to have it too (And vice versa.)? Well if we can convince our govenment that the Asains are ahead of us with OS tech, creating a "Linux gap!" Now all we have to do is convince them to move all government systems to Linux, Microsoft be damned!
Now if only they ever fixed that whole basselope-gap thing...
Windows Air
...
The terminal is pretty and colorful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning
whatsoever.
Windows NT Air
Just like Windows Air, but costs more, uses much bigger planes, and takes out all the other aircraft within a 40-mile radius when it explodes.
UNIX Airways
Everyone brings one piece of the plane along when they come to the airport. They all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing non-stop about what kind of
plane they are supposed to be building.
Air DOS
Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again. Then they push again, jump on again, and so on
Mac Airlines
All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look and act exactly the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are gently but firmly told that you don't
need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be done for you without your ever having to know, so just shut up.
Linux Air
Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to
cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself. When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the
seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plan leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to
tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do WHAT with the seat?"
at least they'll be more reliable now!
That statement is totally unfounded. You are assuming the scheduling software will be stable.
If the schedualing software crashes now, it'll be the same situation as before, but the crash is just going to look different and the OS is still going to be running (though uselessly) under it all.
Blue Screen or Core Dump, it's all the same.
Face it, Linux won't save you. Airlines are ALWAYS going to be late and you're all going crash down into a firey death. And that's what this is really about anyway. Your fates. Get over it. You're gator food, pal! You hear me? Sleeping with the fish! Slamming into a hillside! Tailspin! Dead! Just like the others!
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Airlines had started very early with IT (1950's !) and think big (averge : 50000 sets worlwide, even in deepest New Guinea). And the two big points are stability and cost !
Until recently, they were big mainframe users, because of stability and cost efficience. When the world got rid of the dumb terminals, airlines very relunctantly moved to PC's, but still connected to the mainframe. And they sticked to OS/2 because of its stability... And they still use it ! Windows NT just _starts_ to replace those sets, but the _users_ AND the _sysadmins_ are just pissed off by this instable and poorly equipped OS (no embedded scripting language, not onboard tools, poor automation) ! But the managers love it because it is full of colours, and the M$ marketing brochures are so shiny.
Those days wont last.
Linux based solution emerge everywhere in the airline industry. It is stable and very cost efficient. And with those cash problems that all the airlines are facing, the calculation is very simple (Linux CD for 1000 PC's = 20 USD, 1000 Licenses for Windows = well above 50000 USD). So the change is there and more coming. Within the next 2 or 3 years, just think when you are airborne : At least a dozen Linux boxes has been involved in your journey, whatever the airline... And mainframes with Linux are a big part of it.
I guess they got fedup being owned by Chinese :-)