Most servers around the world run Linux. The same goes for almost all supercomputers. That’s astonishing in a capitalist world where absolutely everything is commodified. Why can’t these big tech companies manage to sell their own software to server operators or supercomputers? Why is an open, free project that is free for users so superior here?
Because those engineers were free to create the value that they needed and only the value that they needed. Windows Server and OSX Server were/are not unfettered. They, therefore could not offer a better value.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV0a-b_VhBg
Google and Amazon are competing with their own Linux OSes. Even IBM bought 30% of RedHat almost 30 years ago. Windows is developing their own Linux OS now too, Azure Linux. Windows Server is down to 40% in their cloud Azure environment. I’m just guessing that’s because many long term contracts are ending and the companies associated have been migrating away from Windows Server. Hence the need for Azure Linux. OSX server flopped big time twenty years ago. Apple had to shutdown their entire XServe division. You don’t always have to sell the software or OS to make money off of it. Especially when there is heavy competition. It’s like restaurants in the US giving away free tap water when you sit down to eat. There are a lot of ways to compete for dollars in a capitalist world.
/u/Zak did a pretty good job summing it up.
These servers are hosting custom software. The devs can develop for any hardware and OS combination. So the choice is largely performance, features, and price. Free is the best price in a capitalist world. Free isn’t the only price though, companies are just fine spending money if they are getting a better value. They just aren’t with Windows Server and didn’t with OSX server, they don’t offer a better value. They aren’t more performant and they don’t offer any features that make it worth the money or risking vendor lock-in. With Linux, if the value you need isn’t there, anyone is free to create the value that is needed, with zero limitations. And they only need create the value they need.
This is a bad example because in many states they’re required to offer free tap water by law.
Really? Which states? Pretty sure there are no state or federal laws. County maybe? I do know in California, it’s a state law that restaurant customers must first request the water, before they can be provide the free tap water. I think it’s just a misnomer that some states require free tap water for customers.
I’m in the northeast and most (if not all? I don’t feel like checking every single state along the northeast coast) of them have laws saying that tap water must be free if it’s offered. The only gotcha there is that restaurants don’t technically have to offer tap water, but that exclusion is probably only there because of water contamination issues. That being said, I’ve also never seen a restaurant not offer tap water even in places where I definitely wouldn’t want to drink it. It’s like this in all of the tristate area. The bigger cities like NYC additionally usually have stricter laws closer to what California has.