Linux is a proven healthcare operating system that doesn’t experience the virus pitfalls and support expirations associated with Windows. GE OEC can have any operating system it wants but chooses Linux HELiOS (Healthcare Enterprise Linux Operating System) for its stability and longevity.

Many governments around the world have turned to Linux as an affordable alternative to expensive, proprietary computer products from Microsoft, Apple, and other commercial companies. The cost factor is not the only one being considered though. Many U.S. governmental institutions in public and military sectors made the transition to Linux due to its superior stability and openness of the source code, which in turn leverages its information security.

• In February 2009, the White House switched its website, whitehouse.gov, to Linux for added security.

• The U.S. Department of Defense trusts Linux as its operating system and recognizes the benefits associated with open-source development. The U.S. Army is the single largest installed base for Red Hat Linux. The U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine fleet runs on Linux, including their sonar systems. After the U.S. Air Force’s Windows-based drone-control system suffered a malware attack in 2011, the Navy signed a $27 million contract with Raytheon to install Linux ground control software for its fleet of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) Northrup-Grumman MQ8B Fire Scout drones.

• In April 2006, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration completed its migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The switch saved $15 million in datacenter operating costs.

• NASA switched the International Space Station laptops running Windows XP to Debian 6, a system that uses Linux. The decision was based on a requirement for a more stable and reliable operating system after the Windows XP laptops were infected with a virus in 2008.

Linux is used extensively on servers in businesses and has been for a long time. Linux is also used in some corporate environments as the desktop platform for their employees.

• With the emerging field of high-frequency trading, the New York Stock Exchange uses Linux to run its trading applications due to its ability to pass messages very quickly. The London Stock Exchange uses the Linux-based MillenniumIT Millennium Exchange software for its trading platform.

• Amazon.com uses Linux in nearly every corner of its business, noting in 2001 that the move to Linux had cut costs by $17 million.

• In August 2017, Google announced that it would be replacing Goobuntu with gLinux, an in-house distro based on the Debian Testing branch.

• In 2001, IBM invested $1 billion to transition its servers and software to Linux. Linux is a fundamental component of IBM’s business and is embedded deeply in its hardware, software, services, and internal development.

• In 2004, Fermilab, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory specializing in high-energy particle physics, developed Scientific Linux as a high performance and stable operating system for their research. As an open-source system, GE Healthcare collaborated with Fermilab to develop Linux HELiOS, which it now uses in more than 30,000 medical imaging machines worldwide.