By Reuters
…”What we found is that costs are not really dependent on the underlying functionality in the core operating system,” DiDio said.
In the independent study, 88 percent of respondents said that the quality, performance and reliability of Windows was equal to or better than Linux.
Linux, which can be copied and modified freely, unlike proprietary software such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system, has been locked in competition for the last several years against Microsoft’s Windows Server software for a share of the corporate market.
In most cases, both Linux and Windows are growing at the expense of Sun Microsystems’ Unix-based servers, which were instrumental in the growth of the Internet during the 1990s.
DiDio said that most companies–whether large or small–rarely take the huge step of replacing one operating system with another. Instead, they usually add a mix of Windows and Linux server software to expand functionality.
…On a scale of 1 to 10, companies rated Microsoft’s security at 7.6, double the rating in a similar survey conducted last year. Linux’s rating was mostly the same at 8.3.
DiDio said that Microsoft’s shift to a monthly security update cycle and increased efforts to combat security issues were the main drivers behind its new ratings.
Another key issue for companies was the cost of developing applications or other programs that run on networked computers. DiDio said software tools such as Microsoft’s Visual Studio helped to boost the appeal of the Windows platform.
Overall, however, most companies were content with extracting the most use out of their existing networks and adding Windows or Linux server as needed, depending on specific specific tasks and needs.
“Corporations need more of a reason to move than they need to stay with a platform that they’re on,” DiDio said.
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