Netcraft statistics and Apache

Tim Hanson writes that The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/16582.html ) is reporting that although Microsoft growth in total web servers is somewhat static, Microsoft handling of secure transactions is increasing steadily, http://www.netcraft.com/survey/: “The relatively static market share for Microsoft on the web as a whole contrasts sharply with its progress in our companion SSL Server Survey where Microsoft makes consistent and relentless gains, month after month, and now accounts for 49 per cent of the sites performing encrypted transactions on the internet.”
Hanson asks, “Does anyone know more about this? Is this right? Does Linux have an alternative?”