International Space Station switches from Windows to Linux, for improved reliability

The United Space Alliance, which manages the computers aboard the International Space Station in association with NASA, has announced that the Windows XP computers aboard the ISS have been switched to Linux. 'We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable.'?

In specific, the 'dozens of laptops'? will make the change to Debian 6. These laptops will join many other systems aboard the ISS that already run various flavors of Linux, such as RedHat and Scientific Linux. As far as we know, after this transition, there won't be a single computer aboard the ISS that runs Windows. Beyond stability and reliability, Keith Chuvala of the United Space Alliance says they wanted an operating system that 'would give us in-house control. Read More