For a long while, Linux was only seen on servers and on the computers of hackers or geeks.  As time has gone on, more and more people began to feel beckoned to the light of freedom that open source software offered.  Not just freedom as in the cost of using an application for next to nothing and it still being legal, but freedom in that you choose how you use it and, for the true enthusiasts out there, how you modify it.  While it's still not commanding a formidable share of the desktop market like Windows does, it holds a considerable sway over the server market.  In fact, it's the system of choice for 48% of all servers which are currently running an active website as opposed to Microsoft's Windows Server being used for only 35%.

Now there's yet another reason for server administrators to choose Linux:  It's greener than Windows Server 2008!  With the ever-increasing price of oil and energy, some companies are looking to cut back on expenses wherever possible.  For those that use Windows-based servers, switching to Linux could be a great way to manage energy costs, as it uses up to 12% less energy than its proprietary rival.  However, the tests run by Network World were under various distributions and hardware configurations, so Windows users might not experience as big of a decrease in power consumption when using Linux as the tests run may lead you to believe.

It's hard to decide which distribution of Linux to use for some people, especially when there are currently 220 maintained distributions in various languages on the Internet ready for people to download, install, and use.  In this specific test however, two commercial versions of Linux were used:  Red Hat Enterprise and SUSE Enterprise Linux.  For Windows, they chose the Enterprise edition for Windows Server 2008.

The main key to success?  Enabling a CPU throttle-back mechanism to reduce the amount of energy a server uses.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Wrong.  Only two of the test servers chosen for this trial came ready-made for the feature to be used.Changing your power settings will also help unless you're a hardcore gamer or someone that wants their computer's best performance all the time.

I've personally been using Debian GNU/Linux on my laptop for almost a year now, but I could tell a noticeable difference in my computer's battery life almost right away after switching from Windows Vista.  While this is by no means a definitive statement that will help Tux overcome the giant that is Windows as far as the desktop market is concerned, it's still something worth thinking about.