Looks as if Linux really gave these folks a workout of its own! Well, there is no question that file servers make more sense on Linux than Windows, duh!

Fitness equipment supplier LA Gym Equipment is getting its information technology in shape by moving from Windows to Linux.

LA Gym, founded in 1988, sells fitness equipment from 13 locations around Southern California. The company also has a commercial sales department that consults with and outfits professional gyms, providing layout and design help, delivery, and installation of equipment.

Windows was giving LA Gym’s IT manager Brian Scott a workout every time more than one user accessed a file on the network at the same time. “The company was having trouble with Paradox 4.5 lockups,” Scott says. Every time it happened, “it forced us to ask 75 users to log off and wait” while Scott and his staff got the network unstuck. The problem was Windows’ annoying little habit of locking in-use files.

Paradox is a relational database that LA Gym uses to keep track of inventory and manage sales. The executable must be installed on each individual workstation, while the data is stored on a Citrix server. It is DOS-based, but LA Gym executives weren’t interested in upgrading to a GUI product. [Read the rest]