IDC Proclaims Linux Is Now Mainstream

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."

Comments

Re:free software's mainstreamness based on revenue

[Quasar1999]

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...

Re:Won't be

[pete-classic]

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

Re:Too Soon

[Ironsides]

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%.