According to this article, “Linux may have reached a turning
point at which it can either address several important challenges
or face problems that could limit future adoption.” The article
cites fragmentation, primarily, but addresses other factors as
well. The author took the time to talk to several people who ought
to qualify as authorities: Eric Raymond, Richard Stallman, and
IBM’s Dan Frye. He also went to the Giga and Gartner wells.
The author leaves readers to draw their own conclusions, and
doesn’t characterize any problem it identifies as insurmountable,
pointing to the LSB as an example of a pending solution.
“Enterprises may also be reluctant to consider Linux
without a full framework of global service and support, vendor
commitment, and a high level of functionality including
scalability, availability, manageability, and security, said George
Weiss, an analyst for market research firm Gartner.In fact, a survey by the Miller Freeman media company concluded
that the largest roadblock to implementing Linux is the perceived
lack of commercial support and service, cited by almost a third of
respondents.Nonetheless, pushed in part by the growing demand for commercial
implementations, Linux continues to develop and is beginning to
address some of these concerns.”