Michael Dolan Dot Com

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Wall Street’s Linux Frenzy continues; so does FUD

Just saw this on Slashdot today:

Market watcher Tabb Group estimates that Linux adoption among the 14 biggest investment firms this year will reach more than 72% of the installed operating server base vs. 60% in 2006

I’ve always known the financial markets companies in NY were big on Linux, but even I was a bit surprised the percentage has gone up from 60% to now being 72% of the installed OS base. 72% – wow!

Now aside from that reference to Linux dominating the install base, this article was very, very poor. It’s littered with nonsense about open source software licensing being an issue and companies being fearful of having to give up the code they change. Rubbish. First, I know that the investment firms that would have been surveyed know far more about open source software licensing than just about any IT user set. They know exactly what they’re doing, and believe me, they’re not afraid (heck, they’re using Linux everywhere!).

I don’t know Ellen, but I really wish authors would spend more time talking to the users they portray knowing insights about and not vendors or analysts pushing an agenda… Perhaps Ellen cross-checked with actual users, but knowing who I’ve spoken to, this is not that big an issue with the Wall Street crowd as the article makes it out to be.