Blogging Ottinger (tim)

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.

I don’t suppose that’s because you can’t get computers without windows on them? Everyone buys computers with windows on them, and then wipes out windows installs linux. It’s really hard (and confusingly, often more expensive) to buy computers without Windows on them. Someone is effectively limiting the vendors’ choices. Linux is easier to install than Windows (I know, I’ve done both). How can it be as expensive to NOT buy an OS?

It is also wrong to consider the open source movement as purist. The Apache server runs on Windows as well as Linux and a range of other operating systems.

It’s open source. You can port it anywhere you want. Also, it’s reasonable to port programs to windows so that people can learn to use them. Once you are using apache, python, thunderbird, firefox, and openoffice, the change from windows to linux is trivial. The only difference is that your machine run better and don’t slow to a crawl after 3-6 months. And you don’t pay big bucks for software anymore.

An ISV whose application runs on both Windows and Linux will often find that, when it ships an on-premise solution, Windows is the pragmatic choice for their customer—it is an operating system they are familiar with and can be more easily supported than Linux. However, when it comes to equipping their own data centre to provide their application as a service they more often turn to Linux.

Yep, the only advantage that windows seems to have is the “incumbent” advantage, and the network effect. People only use windows because they already know how. They remember how hard it was to get going, and what a kick it was to learn. Then they project that learning a new OS will be just as hard, and won’t be worth the kick. They don’t realize that it’s easy. People switch to Mac and Linux all the time, and don’t have the kinds of trouble they expect. Once you’ve used one OS, the next on isn’t hard. It’s surprising, though, how much easier the other choices can be.

But Microsoft is coming from behind in this area, and if such a quantum shift was possible, and the whole world turned to the currently available SaaS applications over night, there would be lot of redundant Windows servers sitting in IT departments and a lot more of us relying on Linux and other open source products for delivery of our businesses IT requirements.

I see that.