http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_on_System_z
> just hidden away in very specific areas
Like every single Financial Institutions on the globe...
Horses for Courses... asking a steeplechaser to do a flat race would be foolish, but each is exceptional for the task they have been bread for.
Perhaps I should have phrased it "RISC machines" instead of specifying the OS they run.
One fault in my argument is that HP sells smaller x86 machines, not only RISC behemoths. So the small customer that bought an HP server a while ago, ran off the warranty period and cannot afford a support contract, is royally screwed. Even here, this go back to my argument: these people are not who HP/IBM/Oracle are focusing on so they couldn't care less.
Even most of the Proliant range comes with 3yrs service/support/warranty so its only really the microservers which are really affected.