I felt that doing all this with NT would cost quite a bit in both hardware and software, whereas with Linux I could use Open Source software all the way and make use of an older machine which was no longer any use for development. Blue Tree's second Linux installation is a test machine that allows programmers to select between numerous OS and application configurations in very little time. Two trivially simple scripts allow us to save and restore compressed images of the small partition. Developing this solution without Linux would have taken longer and given me much less flexibility. Although Humborg says Blue Tree is unlikely to open-source its own major products, he acknowledges the contribution that the Open Source model has made to the company's infrastructure.
Infrastructure is vital.
You can t build solid systems on a fragile foundation. In addition, interoperability is vital. And nobody really wants to develop for multiple platforms, so the commercial world seems to tend towards a single-OS situation. If we are going to have one dominant OS, it should be Open Source. Otherwise, the industry becomes subservient to the will of one dominant company.