TheOpenForce.com

A few weeks back I mentioned the Linux Outlook Research Brief published by InformationWeek.  I had glanced through the report quickly with the idea of coming back to it in more detail.  Now that I have read it in more detail, I really encourage people to take a look at this report.  It's from earlier in 2005, but it's free, so what the heck!  The information is excellent for anyone who wants to know how and why Linux is being deployed in corporate environments, or anyone who is trying to understand the broader trend of open source adoption.  A couple of interesting points:

"Red Hat is the most widely adopted Linux variant .  Nearly 90% of sites surveyed report its use.  SuSE Linux is also popular but it is a distant second at 46% of sites.  Debian Linux is the next closest rival -- at a quarter of sites.  No other variant earns substantial market share among the sites we surveyed."

"Two-thirds of the 439 business technology professionals we surveyed in January 2005 contend that open source spurs more opportunities for technical innovation.  Half (47%) say it encourages business innovation."

"The top 3 areas where organizations currently deploy Linux or plan to deploy it in the next 12 months are: Web / Intranet servers; Application Development; Database."

"The top 4 reasons that have helped accelerate Linux adoption are: Low cost / no licensing fees; Reliability; Performance; Windows security issues."

"Companies expect Linux will reduce their dependence on Windows products.  Linux is expected to replace Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers at nearly half of the sites surveyed.  Three of five sites expect to use Linux on servers instead of Windows NT or Windows 2000."

"Nearly 90% of companies surveyed anticipate a jump in server licenses for Linux.  No other product comes close to these expectations --not Windows, Macintosh or Unix."

The full report is 10 pages and available in PDF below.

• InformationWeek: Linux Outlook Research Brief (PDF)