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Linux is used usually on machines of low power. This does not means that Linux can be used in an Alpha processor, but that it is not the more frecuent scenario. The most frecuent scenario is having no enought budget.
Using Alpha processors have also some other problems. Some countries, as Brazil, have a draconian politics of importation. Importation and customs' steps may delay obtain the machine months, sometimes nearly a year.
Customs taxes also uses to be extremily high, and somewhat absurd. As an example, I was taxed 5 months ago for 400US$ for bringing to Brazil my 4-years-old pentium!. The worst is that the same brazilian law assures that I hadn't to pay nothing, but you are phoned and they say to you that you will lost your computer if you don't pay in a week, and you finish paying to recover your HD and its information.
There are some other dark histories on customs, like trying to get a camera for forgeiner tourists -particulary, my father's video camera-, and so on...
Bring the hardware using a foundation avoid you to pay taxes, but you need nearly a year between you pay and you get the machine.
Then, sometimes it is not only prize. It is availability. You can not be one year stopped, because finacial organizations that granted to you don't what to know why you spend a year without publishing.
There are other countries, like Cuba or China, where some supercomputer facilities have limitations for exportation from the US.
Linux, as it is available on high-availability machines, it is perfect for that kind of countries. Neither the most close goverment can block science with importation politics, neither any country can block for you to buy a machine to do science because you are on his list of ``non-fair-with-me'' countries; because you can always go to the computer shop of the next door, buy a pile of PCs and begin to do supercomputers, without need neither greats amounths of money nor ask permision to the local goverment or to US goverment.
And the best: you don't need to pay the "M$ tax".
A Linux box has a reasonably use of the calculus power of a single machine. M$ uses to say that it is not true, but it is best to try NT and Linux on the same machine that earing M$ FUD techniques.
By other way, you can't reach the performance of an Alpha with one single pentium. Sorry, but it is the reality. Linux is not Lourdes neither Fatima sanctuary. Let's see how can we get more power.
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