Servers and supercomputers
Historically, Linux distributions have mainly been used as server operating systems, and have risen to prominence in that area; Netcraft reported in September 2006 that eight of the ten most reliable internet hosting companies ran Linux distributions on their web servers.[46] (As of June 2008, Linux distributions represented five of ten, FreeBSD three of ten, and Microsoft two of ten.[47]) This is due to its relative stability and long uptime, and the fact that desktop software with a graphical user interface for servers is often unneeded. Enterprise and non-enterprise Linux distributions may be found running on servers. Linux distributions are the cornerstone of the LAMP server-software combination (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python) which has achieved popularity among developers, and which is one of the more common platforms for website hosting. Linux distributions are commonly used as operating systems for supercomputers. As of November 2008, out of the top 500 systems, 439 (87.8%) run a Linux distribution.[48]
