How Linux is hurting Microsoft
It is easy to get caught up in the banter that goes on between the open source community and certain commercial software vendors and fail to see what is going on in the real world. Open source software has its diehard advocates but for most it is one of a number of possibilities to consider as a pragmatic choice is made regarding IT investment.
There is no runaway ‘open source train’ and uptake varies considerably from one product area to another. Linux, for example, has established a respectable share of the server operating system market but unit shipments of servers with Linux installed are still a long way behind those of Microsoft Windows. On the other hand the open source Apache web server has more than twice the market share of its nearest rival, Microsoft's IIS. In other areas it is a mixed bag; for example open source businesses applications such as SugarCRM have taken little market share from their commercial rivals as yet but an open source VoIP PBX solution, Asterisk, has just been endorsed by Aspect, a leading supplier of contact centre solutions.
