Google: What does it use?

[Joel Hammer]

Can someone tell me what Google uses for its server OS? I
think they use linux. If so, the following should be
of interest.

Here is a snippet of an editorial recently from the Wall Street Journal:


     But those who see Google only as an IPO phenomenon miss the
     real story. Poke around Google and you sense a clean break
     from the past, a harbinger of the future. The company's Web
     site handles about 750 million page views a day and has become
     the third most visited site in the world. Google performs its
     Web search miracle with a backroom technology plant consisting
     of about 100,000 cheap servers -- basically, mail-order PCs
     without monitors -- that cost about $2,000 apiece. When one
     of these cheap crunchers goes on the blink, Google junks it
     like an old razor blade, and slips in a replacement.

     Pay attention to the money Google does not spend. No fat service
     contracts. No bloated in-house "fix-it" departments. Google's
     cheap ways save 90 cents on a typical information-technology
     dollar, according to Mike Nevens, a former head of McKinsey's
     technology practice. This amazing 90% savings is the key
     to understanding Google and much, much more about today's
     economy. I call it the Cheap Revolution, and it's in full
     swing. All around us, it's pushing costs down -- not down a
     slope, but over a cliff.


The Wall Street Journal has been a strong supporter of
MS in its legal troubles. So, maybe that's why they don't
mention the OS. Or, they don't care what the OS is.

Note: This editorial says 100,000 servers. I wonder if
they got the decimal place wrong.


Joel