Survey: Linux ramping up in 2004

A recent SG Cowen survey of more than 500 North American IT users found that more than 80% of respondents were currently using Linux and that more than half planned to increase their use of the open source operating system within the next two years.The survey, which also found a growing interest in other open source software in areas such as application servers, e-mail and database systems, concluded that Linux will change the landscape in corporate data centers as it steals workload share away from both Unix and Windows systems.

But the report’s authors note that hurdles remain for Linux, including the possibility that the market could fragment, as the Unix market did, with commercial vendors adding middleware, services and support to differentiate their Linux offerings.