from Edupage mailing list I get ([EMAIL PROTECTED], home of www.educause.edu) : UNIVERSITIES TURN TO LINUX FOR AN INEXPENSIVE OPERATING SYSTEM Universities are increasingly looking to Linux as an inexpensive and reliable operating system to run on the many computers connected to campus networks. Although researchers have been using Linux on campuses for some time, most campuswide systems use Unix, Windows NT, or the Macintosh OS. When North Carolina State University textile engineering professor Warren Jasper needed new computer systems for his research, he created a new version of Linux that is compatible with the school's Unix-based system. Jasper's version of Linux, called Eos Linux, can run on low-cost PCs while providing the same functionality as the costly systems the school uses to run Unix. With a donation from the engineering school, Jasper placed Eos Linux on CD-ROMs and made instruction manuals to distribute the OS to other users in the school. In a few months, Eos Linux became the second most used OS at the university, with only Windows being more popular. The school had tried to modify Windows NT to run with its Unix system, but found that the Microsoft software would have cost several hundred dollars per system, compared with a cost of less than $6 for each Eos Linux CD. The University of Michigan also created its own version of Linux, modifying the OS to support more users, increase security, and work with the school's other software. (Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 2 March 2000) The same rationale could be used for businesses. I know we all know this stuff, but here it is in a publication (and thus, obviously more true ;-)
