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London Stock Exchange goes live with Linux

The last two weeks have been somewhat historic for Linux: HP announcing WebOS tablets; and Nokia sadly dumping Linux for Windows Phone 7. But the best news so far: London Stock Exchange having migrated over to the Linux-based trading platform -- Millennium Exchange.

Trials of the platform were subject to hack attacks, but seems like the transition has gone over smoothly. The earlier platform was based on Microsoft .NET, where trading speed was 1.6 milliseconds. The trade under the new Novell Suse Linux system will be under 1 millisecond, ZDNet says.

There are some reports of some data errors, but there will always be growing pains. You don't learn unless mistakes are committed. Some bourses -- like in Johannesburg -- have moved to Linux, the H Online points out.

So, Linux moves forward in servers. We know it's doing well in mobile devices. Linux still needs to establish itself in PCs, and that's been a struggle in the making for a long time. Servers and mobile devices represent two extremes in terms of devices, and PCs fall bang in the middle. Let's see if Linux can now squeeze the gap on desktops. It's just one of those mysteries I'm waiting to see resolved.