The Dominance of Linux on the Server

Linux is not yet the dominant server OS in terms of units deployed or units shipped. Microsoft still has the lion’s share of the market by all reasonable estimations. It is true that Linux market share figures are likely to be inaccurate because there is no easy way to count new Linux servers. The major problem is that it is possible to estimate those servers that come with Linux loaded, but not possible to count servers that were running something else (Windows or SCO UNIX or whatever) that were repurposed. Even if one could get reasonable estimates for such replacement activities in the large enterprises, it would not reflect the level of such activity in the SMB market or in geographical areas where Linux is proving very popular (China, India, South America and elsewhere ) where the level of such activity is likely to be higher.