Corporations like Merrill Lynch have not only replaced a substantial percentage of
Unix boxes with Intel-based computers running Linux, but the investment house is experimenting with migrating 20% of supported desktop PCs to the Open Source operating system.
Applications on M ran on a Hewlett-Packard
UNIX box, an Alpha AXP, an RS/6000 and two personal computers, Hoffman said.
Everything for the future system is being done in C-language and is compiled for the
Unix box. The main develpment system in State College has a DX 266 processor with 64 Megs of main memory.
The servers will act as a single administration system, with the look and feel of, for instance, a
Unix box but also running NT and mainframe applications.
So, a developer will be able to write an application for a
Unix box one day and use it with an AS/400 machine the next, Capobianco added.