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Percentage of UNIX/Linux machines in corporate America

• What percentage of computers in US corporate environments currently run UNIX, Linux, or a derivative? This includes both desktop and server machines. This includes both internal (behind the firewall) machines, as well as machines publically accessible via the Internet (i.e. Internet host counts alone don't help much here, because they are heavily weighted towards UNIX). Due to the high rate of Linux adoption, recent numbers will be much more useful than those from pre-2000 -- I suspect the bubble burst and Microsoft's new license policies dissolved a lot of the resistance to Linux. I *suspect* the answer to this question is something in the ballpark of 10%, but I can't prove that, and could be way off. I know these surveys have been done to death though -- researchers might try IDC, for instance, and look through the press releases of Red Hat etc. I'm looking for a real number, with references to those supporting surveys. Steve

• Answer:

  I have some statistics about the use of Linux, dating from May 6, 2002. The data derive from a survey of 550 IT professionals within US companies. Admittedly, this is a small sample! The rate of increase in the number of Linux servers is currently faster than that of Windows servers among respondents to this survey. Unix licenses are now accounting for a smaller percentage of the overall server market. About 80% of sites using Linux use it for their Web servers. However, Linux is found on desktop PCs in approximately 45-50% of cases. Linux is also used widely to host databases, for file-and printer-sharing networks, and for application development projects. Small companies are more likely to use Linux for email and other messaging systems than large companies. One obstacle to the wider adoption of Linux is the limited knowledge of IT staff - cited by 40-45% of companies. Another obstacle is the lack of software which can run on Linux - cited by about 30% of respondents. This and further information from the survey is available at: http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020502S0010 All the data presented is divided into that for small companies and that for large companies. Another survey, by International Data Corp, was reported in June 2002: http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/99/08/02/990802opreed.xml According to this survey, "Unix is much more common in large organizations, where 65 percent of respondents reported using it, than in midsize (49 percent) or small (36 percent) organizations" and "Despite conventional wisdom that Linux is used primarily in small enterprises, IDC found that a higher percentage of large organizations (17 percent) than midsize (12 percent) or small companies (14 percent) reported using Linux" A survey of 2,092 IT professionals by the Open-Source UNIX Research Initiative (http://www.survey.com/bidw/description_linux.html), carried out over 12 weeks, from mid-November 1999 to mid-February 2000, found that "open-source UNIX appears to be well on its way to becoming one of the top three operating systems on organizational servers and a viable presence on the desktop, as well." "About 6% of respondents’ organizations who have already deployed OSU are using BSD only, about 73% are using Linux only, and about 21% are using both. The Apache Web server is the most common open-source application among both non-adopters and potential adopters, followed by Sendmail and SAMBA." There is far more detail available in the executive summary which is available at the URL cited above. The complete report can be purchased for $995 at http://www.survey.com/bidw/store.html#jumpwin2kadopt Linux is also increasingly being adopted by the US government and military according to a report from June 2002: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20020530/D7JR1BRO0.html In an article published in November 2001, Amazon.com said said it was able to cut technology expenses by about 25 percent, from $71 million to $54 million, mainly through migrating to a Linux-based technology platform (http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,5098989,00.html) Search terms: Linux, Unix, percentage, US, companies, I hope this answers your question. Please request clarification if you require further detail.