The number of Linux servers in Govt. offices and many schools is increasing in India. According to the latest issue of Business Week (Oct 2, 2006), Microsoft Corp. had 68% of the erver market vs. Linux’s 21%, compared with 70% for Microsoft and 11% for Linux two years ago. However, the desktop market is dominated by Microsoft (yes for now atleast!). Just 3% of India’s PCs use Linux.
Researcher IDC estimates that the Indian Linux market will grow by 21% annually, to $19.9 million in 2010, mostly for services provided by companies such as Red Hat, IBM, and locals like Wipro and TCS.
I think the article might be going a little too far when it says that “Linux already has a substantial share in the servers market, and if it keeps growing at this rate, then the future generation might not even know what Windows is all about. The consequences a year from now will be worse”.
Linux does have some problems though. For example, in India, software is widely pirated and users generally don’t pay anything for the Windows OS and other applications that they use. So it really doesn’t matter to them whether they are using Linux or Windows. Also, Linux is free, so the consumers don’t really know whom to call for service.
Red Hat and IBM support the software for a fee, but they are having “trouble finding Linux trained engineers in India”.
If you are interested in reading more, take a look at the current issue of Business Week.
You can also take a look at this article.
Time and Again 
Linux is certainly great as server but I think it would be a while before it becomes a desktop software..
as they mentioned in the article, its free but then you would issues with support. There are so many distributors, so many versions, some free some paid, I think unless it channelizes itself into a single source, its going to be tough
Opensource are good to certain extent but in my opinion they cannot throw away the licensed softwares.
Nah, nobody is gonna throw away the licensed softwares; besides, why do we need to throw them? We use them for free in India anyway!
“There are so many distributors, so many versions, some free some paid, I think unless it channelizes itself into a single source, its going to be tough”
Yes I agree, you might be knowing about the huge fiasco betn. SCO and IBM..its for the opensource coding. SCO claims IBM stole its coding.
Linux is growing pretty fast.But the point of the matter is,it’s still nowhere close to windows.We’re so used to Windows that’s its not going to be easy to shift.
Another thing,Microsoft in a shocking statement has declared that in it’s latest operating system i.e. Windows Vista,it will not allow any softwares from outside which means no Nero,no Adobe,no Firefox,no Winamp and perhaps no Yahoo! Messenger either.Now this I think is a very brave decision because it can either ruin Microsoft or gain it a huge lot.If you want these softwares to work on Windows Vista,you have to pay an additional 100$ which doesn’t sound like something I’d do.So maybe that could help Linux overtake Windows in another 2-3 years.But the weird part of it is,Microsoft seems so very confident about Vista.Wonder what’s on their mind.
Oh.Thanks for clearing it up.I read this somewhere actually.Perhaps the other person put it in a wrong way or maybe I couldn’t understand.
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