[svlug] article: "Linux snatches Rings prize"

[Ian Kluft]

OK, I know show business isn't much of` a preoccupation in Northern
California.  You'll never see a "star studded event" on the evening news
here.  (If they even happen here, nopbody cares - it isn't a tech story. :-)
But if they put Linux in the spotlight, OK...  we'll check it out.

An article from the Australian Financial Review was quoted on TheOneRing.net,
a Lord of the Rings fan site.  (I might add, sometimes they could be called
a fanatical site as well.  But then again, that's what "fan" stands for. :-)
   http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1015392993

It describes how Linux was used on 35% of the render farm (where SGI's
"Irix" Unix was the rest) for the blockbuster "Fellowship of the Ring"
movie, made for the first of three books of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
But those numbers will be reversed for the second movie "The Two Towers",
due in theaters this December - Linux will be 2/3 of their expanded
render farm.

These all add good references for Linux's use in business.  Going back to
Linux's film debut in Titanic in 1997, fimmakers keep raving about how they
can deliver more for less with Linux.  (We heard this first-hand when Daryl
Strauss who led the effects work for Titanic spoke at SVLUG.)

No surprise to us, scalability also keeps coming up as an issue in Linux's
favor versus a certain monopoly's OS.  But it's important to keep getting
such facts validated in public.

It's great to see Linux being used for the most profitable blockbuster films.
Titanic was all-time #1 moneymaker.  FOTR is still in the theaters but
already at all-time #8 moneymaker.  (I didn't follow the Harry Potter movie
but I thought someone mentioned its graphics used Linux too.  Potter just
passed Star Wars I to take the #2 money-maker spot.)  These are powerful
high-profile references to add to the growing list when anyone challenges
Linux on the subject of where it's been used in profitable businesses.
There's a list at the Internet Movie Database (which also runs on Linux :-)
   http://us.imdb.com/Charts/worldtopmovies

I really enjoyed the FOTR movie.  But it's even better to see it adding to
Linux's reputation.  Of course, FOTR is doing wonders for everything and
everyone who had a role in its Oscar-nominated performance.