Linux, or GNU/Linux if you take that particular side of the naming controversy, isn’t exactly growing in strength and popularity amongst common users. However, Linux has a strong appeal to companies – especially technology companies who have access to the code-savvy brains that can take full advantage of the platform. Google has long stood behind Linux, shouting from the rooftops that Linux is running most of their business; even the upcoming Google Chrome OS is really just an elaborate customization of Linux. But one additional company has revealed itself as being Linux at heart. That company is Yahoo.
But Yahoo doesn’t just appreciate Linux. Rather, the technology company really uses Linux – in 75% of its operations, it so happens (the remainder going, not to a mainstream OS, but to FreeBSD). The company doesn’t use a standard distro (OS version, known as “distributions” or “distros”), but has their very own. This version, dubbed YLinux, is based on the Red Hat version of Linux. Yahoo representatives even went so far as describing Red Hat as being a “valuable partner” to Yahoo.
This “outing” occurred at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit. Yahoo’s support of Linux, especially the sentiment that Linux provides the “best performance for watt,” are immense endorsements that may turn some heads among major corporations and technology groups.
As a company, it’s hard to say exactly how well-off Yahoo is. After all, they sacrificed their entire search engine algorithm and web advertising mechanism – once the core of their business – to former competitor Bing. Yahoo is re-orienting their business format, focusing in on smaller scale and higher profit services. Nevertheless, Yahoo properties (in total) rank as the 13th most visited location on the internet; supporting Linux through those sites is no small deal.
[via ZDNet]
