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Where Linux crushes Windows like a bug: Supercomputers

By | November 14, 2011, 10:11am PST

Summary: Linux is tiny on desktops, powerful on servers, mighty on Web servers, and rules over all on supercomputers.

The fastest computer in the world, Japan's K-Supercomputer, runs Linux.

The fastest computer in the world, Japan's K Computer, runs Linux

The faster a computer goes, the more likely is to have Linux at its heart. The most recent Top500 list of supercomputers shows that, if anything, Linux is becoming even more popular at computing’s high end.

In the latest Top500 Supercomputer list, you’ll find when you dig into the supercomputer statistics that Linux runs 457 of the world’s fastest computers. That’s 91.4%. Linux is followed by Unix, with 30 or 6%; mixed operating systems with 11 supercomputers, 2.2%. In the back of the line, you’ll find OpenSolaris and BSD with 1 computer and–oh me, oh my–Windows also with just 1 supercomputer to its credit. That’s a drop from 4 in the last supercomputer round up in June.

Digging deeper, we find that various customized Linux distributions account for 414 of the supercomputers. AIX, IBM’s house brand of Unix, takes a distant second place in individual operating system distributions. It’s followed by various versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and a variety of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) variants including the RHEL clone CentOS. Compute Node Linux is the last significant solo Linux distribution on the list.

Other operating systems that just make the list includes Oracle’s all but dead OpenSolaris with one entry. The sole Windows entry, Windows HPC 2008, placed 58th.

So, while Linux has only a minute share of the desktop, a big chunk of the server market, is the platform for most Web servers, when it comes to one arena: the fastest of the fast, supercomputers, Linux absolutely rules.

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Supercomputer, Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX, Operating Systems, Open Source, Software, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system

Disclosure

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is a freelance writer. He does not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

Biography

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge, PC operating system; 300bps was a fast Internet connection; WordStar was the state of the art word processor; and we liked it!

His work has been published in everything from highly technical publications (IEEE Computer, ACM NetWorker, Byte) to business publications (eWEEK, InformationWeek, ZDNet) to popular technology (Computer Shopper, PC Magazine, PC World) to the mainstream press (Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, BusinessWeek).

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If you look at their website
symbolset 17th Apr
You will see that this solo "Windows Supercomputer" is running the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 version of Windows. I don't remember that version. It must be new.

http://www.ssc.net.cn/en/resources_1.aspx
View in thread
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
dtdono0 14th Nov
One Windows cluster can 'crush' 440+ other supercomputers running Linux, was all I got from this happy
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
smashandgrab 14th Nov
@dtdono0 - you need to go back and read the article this time with your glasses on...
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
hungryjoe Updated - 14th Nov
@smashandgrab

How is he wrong? If the windows cluster placed 58th then there are only 57 on the list that are faster than it. All the rest are slower.

I wouldn't call it a triumph of any sort for Microsoft, but his statement is correct.

I can't claim to be too impressed that 457 more computers are now running linux anyway; none of them will fit on anyone's desk or in anyone's pocket.
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Linux is ruling the pocket as well...
jasonp@... 15th Nov
@hungryjoe
The Android OS is a Linux derivative. Most handheld and mounted GPS systems are Linux based. Outside of the desktop market, there quite franky aren't a lot of technology verticals where Linux isn't a major player.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
businessandpolitics Updated - 15th Nov
@hungryjoe

So you aren't "impressed". You're so important, I guess they better shut them all down then. Get a life.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
Horus418 15th Nov
@smashandgrab,
#58 Shanghai Supercomputer Center China Dawning 5000A, QC Opteron 1.9 Ghz, Infiniband, Windows HPC 2008 / 2008 Dawning
Cores = 30720 Rmax = 180.60 Rpeak = 233.47 (rmax & rpeak are in tflops)

#1 RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) Japan K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, Tofu interconnect / 2011
Fujitsu Cores = 705024 rmax = 10510.00 rpeak = 11280.38 power = 12659.9

Now I know that is the best but please look at any of the others above HPC2008, the ones placed lower has six thousand cores less and is still in touching distance.

Windows is not a good OS when it comes to servers, super computers or for that matter small form factor devices. Linux is the king in waiting for desktops (a long time waiting but all good things come to those who wait). Linux has been for a long time, just remember what happened when the great old US Navy swapped their OS from Linux to Windows. Look up the USS Yorktown, the software engineer in charge of tech support complained about windows being used as it has very little security or power user structure (locked root never helps).

Yes it's good to see one Windows SC but I have to say we would not be using the internet without Linux. Linux is the work horse and windows is for the masses and Apple for the sheeple. A real shame when you come to know Linux in all it's forms is faster and more reliable, secure and user friendly (once installed properly) than any windows experience.

Just to put this in context I use windows all the time, I have my penguin and I can tell you, production wise Linux is far more 'Balls of steel' than Windows in every way possible (except if you are a gamer).
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maybe you need read more
ZenithY 15th Nov
@smashandgrab
Windows servers are far and away the leader in share as measured by of percentage of revenue,

Microsoft Windows server demand was positively impacted by the x86 server market refresh as hardware revenue increased 16.8% year over year. Quarterly revenue of $6.3 billion for Windows servers represented 42.1% of overall quarterly factory revenue. The 1.5 million server shipments are the highest quarterly total ever reported for Windows servers.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110228007267/en/Worldwide-Server-Market-Accelerates-Sharply-Fourth-Quarter
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
hungryjoe 15th Nov
@jasonp - My original post is perhaps, a bit unclear. The point I was trying to make is that 457 monster computers running linux isn't all that significant compared to the millions people carry around with them every day. Google activates over 500,000 devices a day in a market that Microsoft is trying to compete in. Beating Microsoft 457 to 1 in a game they're not even trying to play just isn't relevant in comparison.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
fairportfan 15th Nov
@dtdono0
I'd like to know what the various slower computers were using for hardware, compared to the ones above them, before i made an Windows/Linux judgments.

I mean, a drag racing car with a thousand-horsepower engine and a stock automatic transmission could probably beat one with a good transmission but only 25 HP.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
Maarek 16th Nov
@dtdono0 Wow, read it again, this post is NOT about ranking, but rather quantity. Out of 500 Supercomputers, there's only 1 Windows supercomputer and the rest a mix of Linux, Solaris, Unix, & BSD.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
matiasgerlich@... 22nd Nov
@dtdono0

Stock market all over the world is using Linux and avoiding Microsoft. You surely know the reason?
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If you look at their website
symbolset 17th Apr
You will see that this solo "Windows Supercomputer" is running the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 version of Windows. I don't remember that version. It must be new.

http://www.ssc.net.cn/en/resources_1.aspx
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
Martijn2 14th Nov
After his previous article was reasonable towards both Windows and Linux, he just couldn't help but stroke his Linux-e-peen once again :P
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Yeah, well he is desperate to paint Linux as a success
otaddy 14th Nov
@Martijn2 And of course Linux is a success in some areas. But the big desktop revolution he and the FSF loons predicted never came true.

Being "free and open" isnt enough.
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proffesionals against consumers
somereader 15th Nov
@otaddy
In professional markets people have of course more knowledge and choice. While in consumer markets you must mostly pay for Windows anyway, if you want it or not.
That is an explanation that monopoly fanboys often forget when it comes to the small presence of Linux on the desktop market.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
cabdriverjim Updated - 15th Nov
@otaddy Depends on how one views revolution. Today, Windows desktop is largely irrelevant to the tasks most people perform most of the time. By that measure they won a few years ago. Windows desktop has a few niches where native applications still rule. Windows Server has a shot at staying relevant because it is a good product. Over a long enough time frame Windows Desktop has no chance of survival. Linux, or something like it, isn't going away for a very long time.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
paulfx1 15th Nov
@otaddy Never is a long time. We're only 20 years into Linux now. Being free and open has been enough for me for more than 15 of those years now.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
PCLinuxOS(user) Updated - 20th Nov
@otaddy of course it didn't come true. Most people I've met fear technology at least in part, so when the TV tells them the Windows OS PC will solve all their problems and be safe(not knowing or at least fearing handling software on their own) they buy into a new Windows OS PC. Your ridicule is simply a testament to the power of preying on the ignorance and fear of the populace at large.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
ItsTheBottomLine 14th Nov
@Martijn2 : but you know his silliness is really fun to read.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
goombawa Updated - 15th Nov
@ItsTheBottomLine Fun, but not in the way he intends. It's the same thing as laughing at someone, not with them.
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He continues to side step one major aspect of Windows and Linux
Mister Spock 14th Nov
@Martijn2
When reading his articles, he never once mention the truth that diminishes wht he is trying to accomplish: Microsoft never designed Windows to run a router or a switch; they did not design Windows with the thought of controlling a pond filter system, nor did they design Windows with the focus on running a garage door opener.
Given that supercomputing a is very niche market, I doubt they placed any focus on that as a priority.

They had no need, as they designed Windows with the goal of running applications and software for the consumer and business world, in which Windows server outsells competing products to a margin of 75% for Window, with everyone else carving up the remaining 25%.
On desktops they have close to 90%, with teh remaining 10% fought over by competing products.

Is the router and car wash controler markets really worth investing any real time and effort into, as it would appear that the companies producing those systems and products are using Linux as no one is really investing any effort into those systems beyond the product manufactures themselves

Once again, an illogical, emotional blog from Mr. Vaughan-Nichols; high on talk, but very small on importance or relevance.

plain
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
daikon 14th Nov
@Mister Spock

very small on importance or relevance, yet you responded. Did the writer not do his job as intended, Yes.
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Yes, daikon
Mister Spock 14th Nov
@daikon
the writer did what he is paid to do, to have people debate or post their opinions, thus earning the site and himself money, so yes he did his job.

I would imagine that ZDNet and their advertisers care little on how he does that, be it by an informative article, or one written with the thought of starting a flame war, no matter how foolish and unflattering it shows him to be.

One of your performers, Valentino Liberace may have stated it best "I cried all the way to the bank"

I would imagine that Mr. Vaughan-Nichols does the same thing each week.

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Totally true.
otaddy 15th Nov
@Mister Spock

And what of all the others that put their hard work and time into building Linux? Will they get compensation from those companies who use Linux in their products?
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
cjc5447 15th Nov
@Mister Spock I found Mr. Vaughan-Nichols article interesting and informative. You are right that no one OS fits the need of the whole marketplace, but it was not an "illogical, emotional blog". If you don't his posts, don't read them.
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What's illogical is ignoring every market but the desktop...
jasonp@... 15th Nov
@Mister Spock
There are far more personal and corporate websites running on a LAMP stack than anything else. The number of embedded devices, including phones, far exceeds the number of desktop PCs in the world. Emotion, it would seem has gotten the best of you. Are these embedded markets really worth investing any real time and effort into, you ask... Microsoft seems to think so, because they spend an awful lot of money trying to reach any kind of critical mass in them. How many millions of dollars do you think they've spent trying to be relevant just in the phone market alone?
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
jgoode@... 15th Nov
@Mister Spock Thanks for clearing this up. It is an apple orange comparison as far as the use is concerned.
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You just make this up as you type?
linux for me 15th Nov
@Mister Spock

You honestly have no idea what you are talking about.
Once again, an illogical, emotional blog from one of our favorite trolls; high on talk, but very small on importance or relevance.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
radleym 16th Nov
@Mister Spock Does it not strike you as relevant, in a discussion of operating systems, that the *nix os's scale from your pocket to supercomputers, using basically the same architecture? Try running windows 7 on your phone. And I'm betting the first desktop-to-handheld MS OS (Win8) will be either yet another rewrite of the kernel, or a very very restricted experience on handhelds, based on the resources required to run any desktop windows.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
DonRupertBitByte 15th Nov
@Martijn2

You realize he is paid to do this stuff...
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
jatbains 14th Nov
This is a no-brainer! Linux is open-source so the developers can modify the kernel to make it run better on supercomputers. Where are the closed source unix vendors i.e. SGI, Solaris ooh nevermind!
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The article says nothing about Linux running faster or better.
DevGuy_z 14th Nov
@jatbains Linux is cheap compared to Windows that's it. About 3 years ago one SC in the top ten had the ability to boot either Windows or Linux. Windows actually showed slightly higher efficiency or the ratio between the peak and theoretical performance. They were also praising how easy it was to get Windows setup. The problem is that unless MS subsidizes the installation, it is simply too expensive to use Windows.
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MS does subsidize the installs
Richard Flude 15th Nov
Why do you think the one supercomputer is running it.

Different OSes have different strengths. MS dominates the desktop. Linux dominates supercomputing and embedded. Sadly only two of the three are growing rapidly;-)
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
aidanjt 15th Nov
@DevGuy_z Spoken like someone who has never done any batch processing, much less industrial scale number crunching.
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No. It's the Customization
CFWhitman 16th Nov
@DevGuy_z
I don't know where you are getting that data, but it's just not accurate. Linux does well on supercomputers because it can be customized. Windows doesn't run as well on supercomputers, if for no other reason, simply because development for it is not focused in this area.

Microsoft did subsidize installs on supercomputers and put some resources toward supercomputer bragging rights. They even had an entry in the #2 position a while back if I recall correctly. However, I think they have decided that the investment is not worth it. Most people who use Windows don't care what's on the fastest supercomputers. The people who do care are already fans of the Unix/Unix-like family and use Linux or a BSD where appropriate anyway.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
phankhanhhung@... 14th Nov
I am not sure there is a market for supercomputers? and how big is that?
But if one day its power can be bring to the mass, I am afraid of it will be Windows supercomputing...
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
terry flores 14th Nov
@phankhanhhung@...

The market for HPC is growing quickly, we're a medium-size company, but we're starting a 1000-core cluster (128 blades actually) with the intent of growing it by 4x in two years. It runs a fairly standard version of Linux with some HPC scheduling software on top, all free open-source. I shudder to think what it would have cost us running Windows ...
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
Martijn2 14th Nov
@terry flores Just be glad that you don't need to be productive (and with that I mean use Office or other real business applications).
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
Michael Kelly 14th Nov
@Martijn2

Who in their right mind would want to run Office on a supercomputer? Next time think a bit before you flame.
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Lies Lies and more Lies
otaddy 14th Nov
@terry flores Yeah right, we believe you...

How are all those other Linux migrations going?
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
phankhanhhung@... 14th Nov
@terry flores
I dont just mean current offer HPC, it not a sound biz model.
i see the opportunity when u are mid company can rent hardware, can easily hire some developers to build the math model wink
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I would shudder to think why a simple medium sized company
Mister Spock 14th Nov
@terry flores
would have a need for what you described, since it is highly likely you could accomplish the same thing at a tenth of the price and complexity with something else.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
kirovs@... 14th Nov
@Mister Spock
Do you know what the company is doing or you are just trolling?
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
TheFilipinoFlash 14th Nov
@terry flores I rather have an hTpc or a Gaming one grin
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And that's the reason SCs don't run Windows, too expensive.
DevGuy_z 14th Nov
@terry flores I agree such an installation would be very expensive.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
terry flores Updated - 15th Nov
Yes, HPC systems are expensive to own and operate if you compare them to desktops. But if you have a need for them (we do), my computer will provide its ROI in less than six months. We have two years worth of backed-up workload for it, which is why we will expand it 4x in the next two years. We took bids from the major cloud vendors, it was a pitiful showing. They just aren't mature or cost-effective enough if you have a continuous requirement. And NONE of them met the security needs.

But my uncle on Wall Street has me beat. He uses a 15,000 node HPC (60,000 cores) for financial modeling, he says it basically gives his company a little less than 1 second "premonition" for market movements. That 1 second turned into $400 million in profit for the company last year.
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Come on kirovs, even YOU can see it
William Farrell 15th Nov
@kirovs@...
I would imagine he is looking for an answer to what it is terry flores is building his "super system" for.

Or maybe you didn't?
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
aidanjt 15th Nov
@Martijn2 Clearly you wouldn't know what to do with a HPC if someone dropped one on your head.
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Funny
CFWhitman 16th Nov
@Marijn2
So just because it doesn't get run on a Windows desktop computer, it's neither 'productive' nor a 'real business application'?

So various database software is of no point? Web servers are not real business machines? Try looking beyond your desk. The fact that in reality it's possible to be productive with Linux desktop applications is beside the point since it's not what terry flores was talking about.
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RE: Where Linux crushes Windows likes a bug: Supercomputers
Return_of_the_jedi 14th Nov
@Martijn2

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!

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