Posted on 08/10/2005 12:00:42 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Oracle's (ORCL:Nasdaq - news - research) buttoned-down president Charles Phillips gives the opening keynote address and there's not a silly penguin costume in sight, you know the grownups are in charge at this year's LinuxWorld.
After two days, the big Linux trade show here hasn't produced any big surprises or high drama. But there is plenty of evidence that the alternative operating system is sitting solidly in the mainstream. So solidly that "over 50% of our customers will use Linux in the next five years, if not sooner," Phillips said.
By most measures, Linux is growing faster than any other operating system, although the same measures show that the free alternative is still very much a minority in both business and home computing. In 2004, sales of Linux server software grew by 44% to $4.25 billion. But the overall market, which is still dominated by Unix and Windows, totaled $46.2 billion, according to market researcher IDC.
Even David Patrick, who heads the Linux efforts of Novell (NOVL:Nasdaq - news - research), admits that a world in which most people run Linux on their desktop computers -- a bit of hype that once received a surprisingly credulous reception -- is far off. "We feel like it is a long road for us. It certainly has not been an overnight shift," he told reporters on Tuesday.
Still, Novell, which seemed slow to get off the mark in the Linux business and still lags well behind rival Red Hat (RHAT:Nasdaq - news - research), has had some significant wins this week.
Siebel Systems (SEBL:Nasdaq - news - research), arguably the top-tier application vendor with the least aggressive Linux support, announced that it will make all of its major applications compatible with Novell's SUSE Linux. It's likely that the real impact will be felt next year when Siebel releases the new version of its flagship customer relationship management suite and has had time to complete extensive compatibility testing.
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fyi
Any idea if cell phones will catch on?
I'm glad to read this- competition is good for the breed. You know I currently use Win2K on my home machines, and that I'm not particularly partisan about OS's. I just want the bloody computer to do what I need to do with as few annoyances and hassles as possible. Microsoft ( besides its well-know security holes ) keeps making it harder and harder to merely use their products-- like their new WGA nonsense, which loads more bloatware on my machines. I'm really getting tired of their intrusiveness and meddling.
So it's 1/10 of server sales. Much less on the desktop. I'd hardly call that "mainstream".
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