UK-based [link|http://www.bp.com/|BP] merged with US-based Amaco in 1999 (though there were several other mergers near the same time. [link|http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=BP|Yahoo finance's BP profile] shows a good match on employee count. While I don't know that this is the company discussed in the post above, several facts match. Rheinlander also lists BP-Amaco in the originally referenced post as a prior assignment.

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And here's the [link|http://www.aviationtoday.com/reports/rotorwing/previous/0700/07rotorcraft.htm|six Super Pumas aquired at a cost of $350,000 to $450,000 per month, per aircraft]. That's another $57.6m over the two year span of the systemwide upgrade.

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Microsoft makes much of this in a case study, [link|http://www.microsoft.com/resources/casestudies/CaseStudy.asp?CaseStudyID=12232|After Major Merger, BP Chooses Windows 2000 as Common Operating Environment] (for some reason the phrase "BP was conscious that time was running out on the Windows 95 platform" stands out -- make me an offer I can't refuse?). These guys don't just screw people over, they brag about it afterwards. Subsequently, BP's invested in a [link|http://news.com.com/2100-1010-997862.html|large Linux-based Itanium cluster] for [link|http://www.vnunet.com/News/1140457|seismic research] and [link|http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-828802.html|3,000 Linux servers] for gas stations, because "What are the odds that if that machine goes down in a gas station there's going to be somebody in 50 miles that can get it working again? And the answer is there just isn't one. Reliability is everything to these guys."

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Looks like that fits with the "we got screwed, we're trying Linux in appropriate tasks, and are open to expanding that role" conveyed by the original post and my followup discussions with Mr. Rheinlander.

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Edits: title change, additional background.