Is Linux a popular OS for trader?

R

RusselHarvey

As of today, most traders use Windows OS for their trading activity, from analysis to trading.

However, while the popularity of Linux increased overtime, will Linux ever become a viable OS for traders or professional in equity industry?

One guess is that traders would only care about business, they would use whichever OS platfirm that makes their life easier. That directs to Windows in today's measure.

In another term, if one wants to develop a trading software, should he/she considers the cross platform a necessarity in next five years? or don't bother as they will use Windows only?

What about Mac? Like to hear from everyone's opinion. Thanks
 
It's a catch-22 I think, like most other instances with getting good linux or mac software.

Companies wont develop software for these platforms until there is demand, but there won't be any demand until these companies develop the software.
 
Quote from ctrader:

Does the api for TWS work under linux?
More...

Ctrader,

You should go to the "TWS Software for UNIX Users" page at the IB website. They have everything for Linux/Unix. Works even better than windows.

nononsense
 
Someday soon, Linux will definitely become a viable option. Definitely. But for now, unless you're going to be running ProphetCharts or another Java-based online charting system (which is perfectly fine, btw), you probably should stick with accursed windows, if only for the massive glut of software to choose from, and the ease-of-use and familiarity of the thing. Your job is FIRST AND FOREMOST to make money. You can do this with Linux, but if you're a newbie, it's definitely harder. When you have money, buy a kick-ass PC and run Linux on that on the side until you're used to it enough to switch over completely. Linux is stable, fast, and secure if set up properly. And free of course. The user has absolute control over what's installed and how things happen, limited only by the extent of your knowledge.

I have used many apps under Wine, with positive results. Most stuff works right away, especially if you're dual-booting with a 'real' Windows install. In that case, Wine will use the actual Windows .dll's from your Windows system. Overall, if you're willing to do the work to tweak it if you have problems, or buy WineX or Crossover stuff, it's very cool. Linux is definitely worth learning if you're interested. Wealth-lab worked fine for me when I tried it under Wine. A few visual weirdnesses sometimes, but nothing earthshattering. I could use it as my only system and I'd be fine. I'm actually considering it right now, because of my insane love for Fluxbox.

If you want to experiment with it, download Knoppix, which runs right off the CD and doesn't touch your hard drive. Then you can try your apps with Wine easily - try it with a Win98 computer if you can, because Linux reads that hard drive format better than the XP one, IIRC. Open the file manager on the taskbar, find your hard drive (/dev/hda1), navigate to the exe file, right click and say 'run with wine'. This is from memory, but that's pretty much it.

If you're going to write software, cross-platform compatibility will be more important in the future, as Macs are taking off, and Linux is exploding worldwide.
 
I've been running linux for about a month now on my own grown PVR and am really impressed.

Rock solid, I have yet to have a crash. I really think linux is hitting the tipping point here.... when I install windows it takes me forever to get all the basic applications and drivers installed, with red hat everything works right away.

Plus no outlook viruses!
 
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