| Recession buoying desktop Linux, vendor-sponsored survey finds |
Mar. 16, 2009
About two-thirds of "IT executives" responding to a Novell-sponsored survey report either "actively evaluating" or "accelerating adoption" of Linux on the desktop, Novell says. About 72 percent responded likewise for servers, although presumably the desktop category includes more evaluators, while servers have more adoption accelerators.
The survey was conducted by IDC. About 300 "senior IT executives" were surveyed via the web, according to Novell. Those surveyed reportedly represent manufacturing, financial services, retail industries, and government. All respondents worked for companies with 100 or more employees.
Some 55 percent had Linux server operating systems in use, 39 percent had Unix server operating systems in use, and 97 percent had Windows server operating systems in use. According to IDC, half said they plan to accelerate their adoption of Linux this year.
Additional key survey findings, as cited and interpreted by Novell, include:- 40 percent of respondents said they plan to deploy additional workloads on Linux over the next 12-24 months.
- 49 percent said Linux would be their primary server platform within five years.
- The most-selected reasons for not adopting Linux were lack of application support, and poor interoperability with Windows
- 67 percent of respondents stated that interoperability and manageability between Linux and Windows is one of the most important factors when choosing an operating system.
- The retail industry showed the greatest potential for acceleration in Linux adoption with 63 percent of respondents planning an increase on the desktop and 69 percent considering the same on the server. The government sector lagged.
- Almost 50 percent of respondents plan to accelerate adoption of Linux on the desktop, especially for basic office functions, technical workstation users, and higher education/K-12.
- Nearly half of respondents stated that moving to virtualization is accelerating their adoption of Linux. Eighty-eight percent of recipients plan to evaluate, deploy or increase their use of virtualization software within Linux operating systems over the next 12-24 months.
- From a regional perspective, Asia/Pacific is the most bullish on increasing Linux adoption, as 73 percent of respondents said they would increase deployments on the server and 70 percent on the desktop. In the Americas, 66 percent of respondents said they are either evaluating or have already decided to increase adoption of Linux on the desktop and 67 percent on the server.
- The economic crisis has had the biggest effect on the Americas, and in financial services and government. More than 62 percent of respondents said that their budget has been cut or that they are only investing where needed.
To show, or to know?
When I worked in IDC's fledgling West Coast market research branch in 1987, one of our founders was fond of saying that some research truly aims to answer a question or resolve an unknown. Other research is crafted to achieve the desired result. "Some research is to know, and other research is just to show," she once told me.
Vendor-sponsored surveys, of course, generally fall into the "to show" category. It's hardly surprising that a Novell-sponsored study would validate the company's own strategies with regard to Linux.
Still, it's hard to "show" what isn't really there, if the research is done correctly. And IDC is certainly one of the best.
Markus Rex, GM of open platforms at Novell, stated, "The feedback confirms our belief that, as organizations fight to cut costs, Linux adoption will accelerate. Companies also told us that strengthening Linux application support, interoperability, virtualization capabilities, and technical support will all fuel adoption even more."
IDC's Al Gillen, software program VP, sated, "Economic downturns have the tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive. This survey confirms that Linux users view it favorably, and this view places Linux in a competitive position to emerge from this downturn as a stronger solution."
Gillen's paper on the study can be downloaded in full, without registration, here [PDF link].
-- Henry Kingman
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