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To: Don Green who wrote (10188)	6/3/2002 4:00:36 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14451

DreamWorks Uses Linux-Based Hewlett-Packard Computers for Films By Ashley Gross Glendale, California, June 3 (Bloomberg) -- DreamWorks SKG said its animators created ``Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' on Hewlett-Packard Co. computers running the Linux operating system, as the studio moves to the free software to lower costs. The Linux-based workstations from Hewlett-Packard cost about $5,000 each compared with about $25,000 for Silicon Graphics Inc. workstations that DreamWorks previously used, said Ed Leonard, head of animation technology at DreamWorks. More companies using the free Linux software in an effort to save money, analysts have said. Computer makers such as Hewlett- Packard and International Business Machines Corp. are selling Linux-based machines in addition to ones running proprietary operating systems such as Unix and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows to tap the growing demand. ``It's very easy to say we're getting twice the performance of the old machines at less than half the cost,'' Leonard said in an interview. ``Spirit,'' the story of a wild stallion in the Old West that becomes friends with a young American Indian, has taken in $38.7 million since it opened on May 24, DreamWorks said. DreamWorks and Hewlett-Packard worked together to make sure the studio's proprietary animation software, called ``ToonShooter,'' would work on Linux computers. ToonShooter allows hand-drawn pictures to be converted into a digital format so the images can be played back and manipulated. DreamWorks is using Linux computers to create its next animated film, ``Sinbad,'' starring Brad Pitt, Joseph Fiennes, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer, that's due out next year, Leonard said. DreamWorks said in January that Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest personal-computer maker, would supply workstations, servers and printers to the studio under a three-year agreement.