Survey results from Gartner highlight the joint use of Windows and Linux InfoWorld’s Paul Krill has an interesting article about the server operating system becoming a two-horse race between Linux and Windows in which both OSes will grow at the expense of others (i.e. Linux). Market research we did at IBM over 7 years ago indicated that Linux would grow at the expense of Unix more so than Windows. So, I’m not surprised that a Gartner survey from a Linux-oriented conference indicated a 3-to-1 ratio of migrations to Linux will be at the expense of Unix versus Windows. Another interesting finding from the Gartner survey: “Linux was ranked by 39 percent of respondents as the OS expected to have the most growth in their datacenters during the next five years. Windows was a close second, ranked as the OS with the most growth potential by 35 percent of respondents at the Linux-oriented conference.”[ Related: The InfoWorld Test Center rates Windows Server 2008. | Has Linux killed OpenSolaris? ] The fact that 35 percent of respondents at a Linux-oriented conference, reported growth of their Windows OS install base is telling. As enterprises get more comfortable with Clouds, offering an environment to deploy Windows and Linux workloads is a no-brainer. I’m certain that Microsoft realizes this and will announce Linux OS support when the Microsoft Cloud goes live 😉 PS: I should state: “The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies, or opinions.” Open Source