One reason not to take survey numbers at face value
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| TxtEdMacs Nov 30, 2004 9:11 AM EDT |
At the bottom of this story there was a link touting Linux outpacing MS in sales: http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticle... "Linux sales growth beats Windows" Fine here are the numbers: 529 Million British Pounds and a 44% increase from last year for Linux. Whereas MS has "£2.8bn worldwide - an increase of 13.3% ...". Seen so close together it should be obvious that just the simple growth of Windows sales is nearly half the total of current Linux sales. That certainly is not as impressive as a simple comparison of raw percentage differences. The one very positive sign is that the units sold increase by only 27.4% for Linux servers. Moreover, this implies with the cost decreases (and software too) that the orders are for more muscular units. However, on a contrary note this may lend credence to the premise that Linux is primarily replacing older UNIX installations. While that well may be true it also implies that MS is being blocked from entering that area. And as a last consideration: Windows was a danger to UNIX installations with the former moving up to compete, now it will soon be time for the former installations to be the target of Linux that was always down market and size capable. |
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