To see future trends in the computer industry, one can often look to see what the guys that will be working in and for the big tech companies in the future are learning now. With that thought in mind, it is worth looking at this article in the Yaledailynews. This quote in particular stood out to me.
In Yale’s Computer Science Department and CS computing cluster, also known as the Zoo, the UNIX-based Linux is the platform of choice. The Linux operating system benefits from a usership that actively tries to improve its function.
Yale isn’t the only university using Linux for training purposes, after all, Linux is perfect for the task in a way that Windows can never be, namely that you can look at, and experiment on the source code of Linux, then compile your changes and see how they work. That reason alone is enough to make it the choice of platform in courses based around OS platform design and implementation. For those purposes, Windows is almost completely useless.
The interesting question is, “What happens when these guys are all employed in the IT industry?” Linux will be their OS of choice, they will know it inside and out, and will be encouraging it’s usage with whomever they end up working for. To a degree this is already happening, and it will only grow as time goes on.
Yale’s email system has been migrated to Linux as well apparently, and this quote from the article explains why.
“Linux is really exploding in the back-office area with servers,” Long said. “We can see the source for it — we know what’s going on. It’s economic, and colleagues at other universities are using it as well, so we can learn from them, too.”
So when evaluating Linux for your needs, perhaps you should listen to the people actually using it rather then listening to sales pitches from Microsoft and/or Sun and those employed by them.
