The current economic climate will lead to the increased adoption of Linux in 2009. This is according to a market survey by IDC, which states Linux is in a good position to emerge from this downturn as a stronger solution.
According to the study, more than 72% of companies are either actively evaluating or have decided to increase their adoption of Linux on the server this year. Another 68% are making the same claim for the desktop.
The growing adoption of Linux is not a surprising trend, says the IDC. “Economic downturns have the tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions and punish solutions that are not cost competitive.”
According to the study, the growing interest in Linux adoption is closely linked to lowering ongoing support costs associated with the Windows solution. More than 40% of companies surveyed said they plan to deploy additional workloads on Linux over the next 12 to 24 months, with 49% indicating Linux will be their primary server platform within five years.
The retail industry showed the highest potential for Linux adoption, while the government sector lagged behind. Despite the adoption of an open standards policy, the government was slow to accelerate its adoption of Linux, the survey revealed. Things looked more promising in the retail sector, with 63% of those surveyed planning an increase on the desktop and 69% considering the same on the server.
“The feedback gleaned from this market survey confirms our belief that, as organisations fight to cut costs and find value in this tough economic climate, Linux adoption will accelerate,” the survey stated.
Linux vs Windows
With the emergence of netbooks and the shift of growth opportunities to emerging geographies, Linux has an opportunity to successfully capture traditional client deployments, the survey states.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) recently confirmed it is testing Google's Android operating system in some of its netbook computers. Seen as a possible alternative to Windows, the company hopes it would allow it to develop a low-cost netbook. As there are also no licence fees for Android, HP could offer a product more competitively priced than netbooks running on Windows. The company says that no decisions have been made on the use of the open source software based on Linux.
The company already offers PCs with a choice of Linux or Windows - but introducing open source options still remains risky. The study states there are still factors which hinder the adoption of the open source platform. A lack of application support, poor interoperability with Windows and other environments were listed as the primary concerns for companies.
According to the survey, while adoption rates might be promising, they could be higher in the future. Sixty-seven percent of respondents stated interoperability and manageability between Linux and Windows remains one of the most important factors when choosing an operating system. But companies will continue to look at Linux as an alternative. The study reveals almost 50% of companies plan to accelerate adoption of Linux on the desktop for basic office functions.
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