“Although open-source UNIX (OSU), especially Linux, will make
astonishing gains over the next two years-between 100% and 700%
gain in server share on eight major enterprise server
applications-Microsoft Windows NT/2000 will maintain between a 30%
and 65% server share on these same applications. This compares to a
server share of around 10% or less for OSU on most of these
applications. The study also shows that open-source UNIX will have
the most impact among smaller companies, while Microsoft’s server
share continues to grow among the largest enterprises.”
“The open-source UNIX movement is a true inflection point
for the computing industry,” said Peter Auditore, president of
the BI/DW Research Program. “It does not, however, threaten
Microsoft’s dominance of the operating system market, at least for
the next few years. Windows’ huge installed base, the army of
programmers developing for it, and the integration technologies
that link this operating system and applications such as SQL Server
and Microsoft Office are huge advantages that will require
sustained attack for many years to overcome.”