[plug] [link] This is such a great FeelGood that it needs posting in full

[Leon Brooks]

    http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57503,00.html

    The Bulls and the Bears may soon be standing on the unemployment line. 

    Tux the penguin, Linux's beloved mascot, is rapidly becoming the
    financial services industry's totem animal of choice. In fact, it
    seems that the only steadily rising statistic on Wall Street these
    days is the number of companies moving to open-source systems. "Linux
    is probably the only good news that we've had in the financial
    industry over the past couple of years," said Keith Codell, a systems
    administrator for a Wall Street firm. "Linux is reliable -- it never
    crashes, it's secure. Wouldn't it be sweet if the market was more
    like Linux?" 

    Linux's influence on the banking and investment industry is expected
    to broaden this week, with the introduction of a Linux-based system
    that will provide some of the world's biggest banks and investment
    firms with the data and news they use to make trading decisions. 

    Reuters announced on Monday that its popular Reuters Market Data
    System, or RMDS, has been ported to Linux, in response to what
    Reuters spokespeople described as "intense customer demand." 

    "The call for RMDS for Linux has been astounding," said Peter
    Lankford, head of real-time content-management systems for Reuters.
    "And the response from our beta testers, even those who initially
    dismissed Linux as 'experimental technology,' has been
    overwhelmingly positive. 

    "They saw performance improvements and cost savings. These folks
    are bankers, and they know you almost never get more for less --
    but this time they did." 

    Reuters began beta testing RMDS for Linux in October. Lankford
    wouldn't reveal names, but said the RMDS beta was tested in six of
    the world's largest financial institutions. 

    "I have to admit I was shocked at the complete lack of negative
    feedback," Casey Merkey, global program manager for RMDS on Linux.
    "You always get negative feedback in beta tests." 

    Merkey said that even the customers who were not convinced they
    wanted to use a Linux system converted quickly once they started
    using it. 

    "Some of our more challenging customers suddenly became my very
    best friends," he said. 

    Financial industry heavyweights such as Merrill Lynch, Morgan
    Stanley, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs Group and
    E-Trade have all announced major Linux deployments in recent
    months.

    Anyone who attended this year's LinuxWorld tradeshow in New York
    noticed that many attendees appeared to have been 

    "Better is exactly the point," said Mike Evans, vice president of
    business development with Red Hat. "You've got thousands of the
    best programmers in the world poring over Linux code,
    incorporating everything that we've all learned about how to
    build a better operating system. 

    "Yes, Linux is more cost-effective. It's highly efficient and
    rock solid too. It's a modern operating system." 

    Reuters worked with Hewlett-Packard, Red Hat and Intel to create
    a Linux-compliant version of RMDS that runs on Intel-based servers. 

    "Somehow, people don't seem to realize HP is so deeply involved
    with open source," said Judy Chavis, HP's worldwide director of
    Linux. "When we first began talking with Reuters, I think their
    people were surprised that we even knew how to spell Linux."

Cheers; Leon