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Linux Now 25% of Dell's Server Business
Sam Haine '95 writes to mention a ZDNet article discussing Linux's place in the server market, at least for Dell Computers. Linux now makes up over 25% of the company's server business, and has become such a standard that they only need to confer with Red Hat for some 10% of service calls. From the article: "Linux and open source have been a blessing for Dell as it has struggled to make an impression, other than as a desktop and laptop supplier, in enterprise computing, According to Martin Hingley, vice-president of the European Systems Group at analysts IDC, part of the problem for Dell in the enterprise is that 'people don't like partnering with Dell.'"
Of course they don't mention that anyone who uses Dell OpenManage(TM) to install blade servers and probably other servers is actually using Linux to setup the RAID and install Windows. Since OpenManage is actually running on a Linux kernel. Somehow I find it reassuring to know that the Windows admins that I work with use Linux all the time to setup the RAID on a blade.
Plus, when buying servers, we often will buy them as "No Operating System Microsoft Configuration" even though we end up putting RHEL on them. I'm sure that they probably count that as a Microsoft install even though lots of Linux admins simply don't need to have RedHat on their server by default. They do have the option for "Red Hat Enterprise Linux - No Factory Installed Operating System", but I think when you initially read through the options its not obvious that that's a "no OS" install. Then of course you have people who choose VMware ESX server (probably a small percentage right now).
So I'd say that Linux probably accounts for closer to 30-40%, if not even 50% of Dell's server sales.
The original post said that Linux was 25% of Dell's server business, but the TFA said it was 25% of Dell's Enterprise business. There's a big difference there. Enterprise business also include high-end workstations, and server business also include small-business servers and such.
Don't Fear the Penguin
.ogg
(to the tune of Don't Fear The Reaper, by Blue Oyster Cult)
Servers powered on
Hackers don't fear the penguin
Nor do the geeks, the nerds and the brains, we can be like they are
Come on baby, don't fear the penguin
Baby take my hand, don't fear the penguin
Baby I'm a slack man...
ISO burn is done
laptop powered on
Romeo and Juliet
Today would be kids of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Romeo and Juliet
40,000 men and women installed today, like Romeo and Juliet
40,000 men and women installed today, we can run fedora
Come on baby, don't fear the penguin
Baby read your man, don't fear the penguin
Your computer will fly, don't fear the penguin
Baby read your man
Love of ubuntu is fun
PCs, Macs and Suns
All of them can run a distro
Boot it up and watch the daemons run
The windows were cracked when linus appeared
Bill's users grew discontent over many years
Then one day acceptance of the GPL, happened to spur adoption again
And then linux, owned the desktop
And they ran to it, and bid their windows goodbye
They looked backward and said goodbye, she had become like they are
She had booted debian, she had adopted
Come on baby, don't fear the penguin
(no, I'm not bored. at all.)
Unfortunately, too far off. It is one thing for Dell to support RHEL to people who understand Linux, and a whole other thing to support whatever desktop variants to a less tech-savvy user. I can see it now: Dell: "Thank you for calling Dell Tech Support, this is 'Frank', how may I help you" User: "Ya, um... Why won't snood run on my computer?" Granted, most users who would purchase a Linux Dell, most likely, would have an understanding of the system. Yet, you have to admit that half the fun of installing GNU/Linux (Debian in my case) is getting flamed on debian-user with my questions.