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Linux Has Promise for GPL Market
Linux is welcome in large IT companies, according to new research by Idaya, sponsors of the freeVSD project. The survey of 1,000 global ISPs revealed that many feel the Linux adoption trend could constitute a boost for the General Public License (GPL) market. Respondents were a mixture of business managers, technical heads and service managers.
However, a fifth of respondents also felt that the rapid adoption of Linux-based services from the major IT solution vendors would squeeze opportunities for smaller players and freelance developers, an outcome which would contradict the spirit in which Linux was created. Opinion in the ISP community was evenly split as to whether Linux could ever become the desktop operating system of choice.
Principal findings included:
- 83 percent of respondents believe that the porting of key enterprise applications to Linux (Lotus Notes, Oracle, SQL etc) would constitute a boost for the GPL market. 13 percent believed it would pose a threat. Respondents primarily focused on the fact that the code would no longer be free at the point of usage under the GPL principle.
- 42 percent of respondents felt that the adoption of Linux by major IT solutions vendors (IBM, HP, Compaq, etc) would actively help improve opportunities for smaller players and freelance developers. In contrast, 21 percent felt that it would actually squeeze opportunities for smaller companies and freelancers. 37 percent felt that it would have little effect either way.