Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Mon 26th May 2003 23:36 UTC
Linux only has a small percentage of the computing market, however Microsoft already considers it a major competition as the open source OS steals the hearts of many users. Following the hard numbers though, Microsoft also increases its market share on both server and desktop space with time. The only logical explanation is that Linux steals quite a market share from the traditional UNIX providers (SCO, Sun, SGI, HP, IBM). But only Sun seems to truly be in a real Linux trouble, as it is the one with a resistance to Linux integration to its full product range.
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What features does Linux have that real UNIX OS's don't?
It runs on dirt cheap intel boxes and has boatloads of commercial hardware and software support.
In short, if business have applications that can be horizontally scaled onto lots of small, cheap intel boxes running Linux, then they are migrating in droves.
I'm not quite sure why this is news, though. Everyone has known Linux is taking all its marketshare from the commercial Unixes for years. It's made barely a scratch in Windows marketshare for this very reason.
Basically, the only reasons you'd be running a proprietry Unix system today are:
a) Software and/or hardware lock-in (eg: you need Solaris for some software your business depends on, or you want to use hardware that is only certified with, say, big Sun Enterprise machines).
b) You have a need that is better served by (say) a single SunFire 15000 than by a few hundred intel machines running Linux.
The most common reason is (a). Category (b) is small and getting smaller every day.