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IDC Proclaims Linux Is Now Mainstream

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the well-of-course-it-is dept.

robyannetta writes "Eweek has an interesting article quoting IDC analyst Al Gillen saying "Linux is no longer a fringe player. Linux is now mainstream." He made that observation because IDC's research predicts that Linux's overall revenue for desktops, servers and packaged software running on Linux will exceed $35 billion by 2008."

6 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Re:free software's mainstreamness based on revenue by Quasar1999 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Free? No... the term 'free software' is misleading... it isn't really Free... there is all sorts of revenue tied to products that either use said free software, or support for said free software... heck even the hardware that runs the free software is tied in... so it shouldn't be on usage, but rather revenue... since the software generates a lot of revenue... think of how much revenue iTunes generates Apple... and they don't charge a dime for iTunes... same sorta idea...

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    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
  2. Prediction - Observation by DoubleDownOnEleven · · Score: 2, Informative

    How is it an "observation" that Linux is mainstream when "research has predicted" that revenue will increase a lot? Not that Linux will be at some point, or is getting there, but that it IS mainsteam.

    To me it's not really an observation, just a...what's the word... oh yeah, prediction.

    Maybe I just don't get it.

  3. Re:Won't be by pete-classic · · Score: 3, Informative
    Linux won't be mainstream until I can set up a Linux box for my grandmother and leave it knowing she'll be fine with it for an indefinite period of time.

    Right, just like windows.

    You seem to live in a magical land where pixies frolic and windows doesn't have to be reinstalled every six months like fucking clockwork.

    Grandma can't figure out how to print?


    Hrm. I installed Fedora on my system (no harder than installing windows), launched OO Writer (just like launching Word, except it was included in the OS install). Hit the print button. The document comes out on my USB connected LJ1200.

    Welcome to the 21st century. We've been waiting for you.

    -Peter
  4. Re:Too Soon by Ironsides · · Score: 3, Informative

    netscape/mozilla/firefox does not have 20% of the market. It has less than 8 percent. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1706694,00.as p IE still retains 92.9% market share. The number you are thinking of is that netscape/mozilla/firefox increased their market share BY 26% at one point over the summer, NOT to 26%.

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    Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
  5. IDC gets money from Microsoft, and.... by hansreiser · · Score: 2, Informative

    they have a long history of predicting that Linux growth will be lower than what one would reasonably expect given the previous quarters at various free software companies. Remember back when Linux was doubling in a year or less, and they were predicting 27% growth?

    They get a lot of press, and by pretending to be extolling Linux, and aided by naive free software advocates who go around giving publicity to their numbers, they actually succeed in making it look a lot smaller than it is.

    Microsoft is notorious for spending money on dishonest pr flacks.

    I wish there were real numbers on Linux usage growth over the last year. Surely it isn't doubling anymore, but I bet it is still gaining market share.

    Hans
    www.namesys.com

  6. This article is a dupe by learn+fast · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yup, We've seen this before. It's not the same article exactly, but both had obviously been haplessly scraped out of the same press release. Same numbers, same quotes. Nothing to see here...