Why Linux is better for the enterprise

The main benefit Linux offers enterprise users is choice. At Red Hat, we ship a Linux operating system that comes with complete source code and a license that guarantees users the right to do whatever they want with it without so much as asking our permission.

In other words, users have control over the technology they are using. Bug fixes and upgrades are available within hours rather than years, resulting in more stable and reliable computing systems.

Is Linux the best choice for the enterprise? Well, that question begets the question, "What does the enterprise want to do?" If an enterprise wants to run mission-critical applications on industry-leading database engines from Oracle, Informix, Sybase or IBM; launch rockets; render graphics for films such as "Titanic"; or simply wants a rock-solid operating system with consistent uptime, then yes, Linux is the best choice. Just ask Linux-using enterprises such as Los Alamos National Labs, NASA, Nortel Information Network, Digital Domain, Southwestern Bell and the city of Garden Grove, Calif.

When Intel and Netscape recently made a minority investment in Red Hat, they added not only monetary value but credibility and reliability to Red Hat Linux. What it proves is what we at Red Hat have known all along: That Linux reflects the future of technology. Their investment was in Linux, both as an operating system and as a development model.

The investment from Intel and Netscape has given us the opportunity to establish an Enterprise Computing Division within Red Hat Software. This division offers the operating system platform service, technical support, strategic alliances and company responsibility that the enterprise demands.

How can a free operating system that apparently has no money behind it compete with products from the world's richest computer software companies? Appearances can deceive. There are huge amounts of money being invested in Linux development: Companies such as Oracle, Corel and Sybase invest directly in Linux via the best-selling applications they have been porting to the operating system. The software development teams at enterprises such as CERN, NASA, Boeing and Westinghouse contribute by improving the open source products they are using for internal projects.

The huge development effort behind Linux means the technology can stay ahead of closed-system operating systems. Consider security, for example. Because of the wide-open nature of Linux and its sources, security issues are identified, debated and repaired in real time, resulting in more effective solutions that are available immediately.

Given the choice, control, development, services and support Red Hat Linux offers users, the question isn't whether Linux is the best choice for the enterprise - it's how can legacy proprietary operating systems survive in an open source world?