| OSDL shares Desktop Linux survey results |
Nov. 29, 2005
Encouraged by a solid 3,300 user responses to its Desktop Linux survey, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) Desktop Linux Working Group (DTL) Tuesday thanked all its respondents by email and began sifting through the mountain of data the survey provided.
The month-long online survey focused on determining the key issues driving Linux on the desktop as well as the major barriers to Linux desktop adoption, OSDL officials said.
"What was most surprising to us was probably the top two reasons given for deploying Linux on the desktop," OSDL's Principal Analyst Dave Rosenberg told Ziff Davis Internet. "It's not TCO (total cost of ownership), or security, or lack of license fees. It was 'employees requesting Linux (user demand)' and because 'my competitors have successfully deployed Linux.' "
Some "intriguing" results
The top two results were "intriguing" in that conventional wisdom suggests that Linux is initially adopted as a developer tool but is generally not viewed as a competitive issue, Rosenberg said.
"We also found it interesting that TCO and the reduction of licensing costs, which are more economic than technical benefits, ranked higher than security. One explanation based on the write-in essays appears to be that security is not considered an issue with Linux, and therefore TCO and licensing costs are areas of positive gain, whereas security has already reached a baseline plateau," Rosenberg said.
OSDL Linux Desktop Initiative Manager John Cherry agreed.
"If this survey had been taken two years ago -- or even one year ago -- we would have seen much different results," he told Ziff Davis Internet. "You would have seen TCO and no license fees at the top, with security perhaps next.
"This we see as a major change in the perception of Linux -- that it has really earned its way into the enterprise because it works well, not just because it's more cost-effective."
Not surprisingly, the most critical applications for successful Linux deployments are email, office suites and Web browsers, the survey reported.
Email trumps browser and "office"
Rosenberg said it is interesting that email is being considered even more important than either a browser or office productivity. He said that this might be because "email truly is the killer app regardless of platform," or that desktop Linux still needs a quality email application.
At this time, only Novell's Evolution is considered a business-class email application, due to its Outlook-like inclusion of group calendaring and address lists.
Survey respondents indicated that they thought the main reason why users haven't switched to Linux is that "application support must be available for new and existing non-open-source desktop applications and utilities such as VPN clients. In particular, Photoshop, PageMaker, AutoCAD and Quicken were mentioned as applications that users want to see on Linux," according to the survey analysis.
While some such applications, such as Intuit's Quicken personal finance program, can be run on Linux via a third-party program like CodeWeavers's CrossOver Office, users would prefer native Linux versions of their favorite Windows programs, the survey analysis said.
Other key discussion points in the survey analysis are "Browser Applications and Plug-ins that Must Be Supported" and "Top Inhibitors of Linux Desktop Adoption." Peripheral device driver support was also a hot-button issue. In particular, USB device and networking printing were mentioned as key areas that needed improvement.
On Thursday and Friday of this week, OSDL is hosting a group of architects from over two dozen key desktop-oriented Linux projects at a meeting at its headquarters to set strategic directions and standards, and find synergy among desktop Linux-oriented organizations.
The architects will use the newly completed survey as part of their agenda, Cherry said.
"While this is an important piece of information, it is only a small data piece of what we will be discussing," Cherry told Ziff Davis Internet. "We need to determine where the gaps are in coordinating Linux on the desktop to compete [with Windows].
"We need to surface all the issues that are hindering adoption of Linux on the desktop. From these focus groups we should be able to find that missing piece of coordination that is needed."
See the results for yourself
Here are a few selected charts from the survey report.
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The full survey, including OSDL's early analysis and additional graphs, is available for download here (PDF file).
OSDL, home to Linux creator Linus Torvalds, sponsors legal and development projects to advance open source software, as well as initiatives for Linux in telecommunications infrastructure, in mobile devices, in the data center, and on enterprise desktops.
Results from DesktopLinux.com's own 2004 Desktop Linux Market Survey are available here.
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