Rebel Zero

Source … ComputerWorld

From a patchworked network of different versions of Fedora and Red Hat servers, the IT department of Wikipedia will finally finish a changeover to an all Ubuntu 8.04 deployment across its 400 servers. The volunteers who began Wikipedia did so with what they had available. Installing and upgrading software is a difficult task when confronted with different versions of operating systems. Once the site began to grow, it became clear that a simpler, more standardized setup was needed.

The move to Ubuntu, according to Gordon Haff, who is an analyst at Illuminata Inc. in Nashua, N.H., is more likely due to cost rather than any kind of brand loyalty. Since Ubuntu offers both its server class and desktop class free for all users, the cost benefit is significant when compared to upgrading everything to Red Hat.

Now that they’re all on one operating system, Brion Vibber, CTO of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., says, “We can run the same combination everywhere, and it does the same thing. Everything is a million times easier.”