1. Google, Amazon, and Facebook all use Linux for various web and cloud services.
Some of the biggest players in internet arena like the search giant Google, the largest social networking site Facebook and biggest online merchant Amazon, all use Linux for various services.
2. Nuclear submarines need Linux to run
The United States Department of Defense uses Linux – “the U.S. Army is “the” single largest install base for Red Hat Linux” and the US Navy nuclear submarine fleet runs on Linux. In 2004, Lockheed Martin delivered a nuclear submarine to the US government that was powered by Red Hat Linux.
3. Air traffic control systems use Linux to get you from A to B safely.
U.S. has ported its FAA’s (Federal Aviation Administration) Common ARTS software to Linux. Common ARTS (or Automated Radar Terminal System) is an air traffic control computer system that air traffic controllers use to track aircraft.The computer system is used to automate the air traffic controllers job by correlating the various radar and human inputs in a meaningful way. This system is being used in most of the TRACONs around the United States. Common ARTS is the most modern implementation of ARTS in use at various locations in the United States.
4. Linux is helping power particle physics research
CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, relies upon Linux to control its huge particle accelerator. It uses Scientific Linux (SL), which is a Linux distribution produced by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). It is a free and open source operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and aims to be “as close to the commercial enterprise distribution as we can get it.”
5. The New York Stock Exchange is powered by Linux
When it comes to the fast-moving business of trading stocks, bonds and derivatives, the world’s financial exchanges are finding an ally in Linux, PC world reports. “As an alternative to traditional Unix, Linux has become a dominant player in finance, thanks to the operating-system kernel’s ability to pass messages very quickly,” Linux kernel contributor Christoph Lameter, said in an interview with IDG.
The largest exchange, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext, is run on a Linux system that can generate 1,500,000 quotes and process 250,000 orders every second, offering acknowledgements of each transaction within two milliseconds.
6. Toyota’s “In-Vehicle-Infotainment” and communications systems run Linux
According to Webopedia, the In-Vehicle-infotainment (IVI) systems are used in automobiles that deliver entertainment and information content. While each IVI system is different, typical tasks that can be performed with an in-vehicle infotainment system include managing and playing audio content, utilizing navigation for driving, delivering rear-seat entertainment such as movies, games, social networking, listening to incoming and sending outgoing SMS text messages, making phone calls, and accessing Internet-enabled or smartphone-enabled content such as traffic conditions, sports scores and weather forecasts.
Currently, Toyota is using Linux as the base platform to develop IVI technologies for its automobiles.
7. It supports high-tech traffic control
Linux’s traffic control functionality offers a lot of capabilities related to influencing the rate of flow, as well as latency, of primarily outgoing but also in some cases incoming network traffic. It is designed to be a “construction kit” rather than a turn-key system, where complex network traffic policing and shaping decisions can be made using a variety of algorithms, as reported by Funtoo. San Francisco recently started using traffic controllers that are powered by Linux.
8. Linux runs Japanese high speed rail
The Shinkansen, also known as the “Bullet Train”, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by four Japan Railways Group companies. The train reaches the maximum speeds of 240–320 km/h. The Shinkansen employs an ATC (Automatic Train Control) system, eliminating the need for trackside signals. It uses a comprehensive system of Automatic Train Protection. Centralized traffic control manages all train operations, and all tasks relating to train movement, track, station and schedule are networked and computerized. Most of these systems are based on Linux.
9. Linux powers a majority of the world’s supercomputers
Linux was originally developed as a free operating system for Intel x86-based personal computers. It has since been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. It is a leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers. More than 90 percent of today’s 500 fastest supercomputers run some variant of Linux, including the 10 fastest. Linux also runs on embedded systems, devices where the operating system is typically built into the firmware and highly tailored to the system, such as mobile phones, tablet computers, network routers, building automation controls, televisions and video game consoles.