Amazon Now Running Linux on 92 Percent of Its Computers
Yesterday's Seattle Times reported that Amazon.com successfully completed a migration to Linux in September and now estimates that 92 percent of its servers run Linux. This is probably one the most complete Linux migrations ever done by a large company. The article says that Red Hat has data that indicates Amazon realized $17 million in technology savings in the third quarter of 2001 alone.
Apparently, there were also unanticipated expenses: "Midway through the transition, Linux creator Linus Torvalds... abruptly changed the software's underlying code, forcing Red Hat and Amazon to change course on the fly." Amazon did report that the operating system upgrade "contributed to $182 million in extraordinary charges" in 2001.