Johannesburg, 03 Aug 2005
The next five years will bring big changes in how platform and operating systems are viewed, and Linux can potentially impact dozens of markets, technologies and vendors depending on its continued evolution.
Steve Prentice, Gartner VP and research director, and Brian Gammage, VP and research area leader, told delegates at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2005 that Linux`s net impact to users is greater choice and empowerment.
In addition, they said, it can provide leverage to compare and negotiate assertively and allow for opportunities to move from legacy and limited life platforms to consolidation and longer lifecycles.
However, Prentice and Gammage believe that, despite Linux inroads, the replacement rate of Windows is still relatively low in small businesses.
The scenario for the overall enterprise landscape is the dominance of the two mid-range operating environments of Linux and Windows. While Unix is not expected to disappear, it increasingly becomes relegated to niche roles in data centres, they said.
Added to the basic infrastructure and Web serving roles, Linux will build enough critical mass to be a sustaining technology through this decade, Prentice and Gammage stated.
"We do not see another disruptive technology that could become a dislodging influence on Linux. Microsoft`s technology, largely evolutionary in nature and beholden to assuring tightly integrated and compatible software stacks with a large installed base, makes Windows` rate of advancement subject to restraints not yet a factor in the Linux market," they said.
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