"When the economy takes a dive there are always plenty of
casualties in the marketplace, and classical economic theory tells
us that expensive goods suffer the most. When the going gets tough,
consumers substitute lower-cost alternatives.
"But that doesn't mean they have to compromise on quality. Just
because a product has a premium brand and commands a higher price
doesn't necessarily mean it's better. You can pay five times as
much for a packet of Tylenol as you would for generic
acetaminophen, but either will get rid of a headache equally
well.
"So it's not surprising that 65 percent of IT professionals
recently polled by IDC said they plan to increase Linux server
workloads by 10 percent or more this year. IDC carried out the poll
for Novell, and the draft results were reported in
InformationWeek."
