One of the stories that is making the rounds on the Internet is that the sales of Linux server software is falling like a stone. The allegation is that since Linux is losing sales, Microsoft must be increasing their sales of server software. But one of the surveys cited, may have been paid for my Microsoft itself. This is not unusual, since we have seen similar surveys in the past for other competing products that show similar sales down slides. Surveys that were also paid for by Microsoft.

But is this fact or fiction? Are these surveys of any value or are they self serving? Over at Linux.com they seem to have a difference of opinion on the facts and the article states:

I felt bad for Linux vendors after reading Peter Galli’s eWeek article, which claims that Linux server sales on X86 hardware have run into a stone wall, going from a 53 percent growth rate to four percent decline over the past six quarters — until I did a little research that easily refuted that claim.

Galli cited the IDC Quarterly Server Tracker (QST) as the source of the figures. While looking for that report on the IDC site, I found one from August which states that “Linux servers posted the fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating revenue growth, with year-over-year revenue growth of 19.0%, for a total of $1.8 billion in the quarter. Linux servers now represent 13.6% of all server revenue, up from 12.1% a year ago.”

Encouraged to find that the sky was not falling after all, I kept looking for Galli’s QST, but had no luck. Evidently, it is available only by subscription. I requested a copy of the survey from IDC press relations on the company’s Web site, and followed up the next day by telephone. I didn’t receive a copy of the the QST, but IDC’s Mike Shirer did tell me that “Galli hacked that article pretty badly.”

Take a look at this article which tends to refute some of the allegations being made. Then decide for yourself.

Comments welcome.

Full article is here.

[tags]linux, server, microsoft, survey, sales, slide, [/tags]