Open Source vs. Microsoft in the Enterprise

by Mike Gunderloy - Apr. 02, 2008Comments (3)

One of the latest reports from Forrester, "Enterprise Desktop and Web 2.0/SAAS Platform Trends, 2007" is starting to make its way around media outlets on the web. The Forrester folks tracked software trends in major categories across 50,000 users month-by-month, and now their conclusions are out. Depending on how you look at it, they're either good or bad for open source.

Although it will cost you $279 to read the entire report, it's fairly easy to find the basic statistics online. Let's start with one that's not so encouraging: Windows still rules the roost when it comes to the enterprise desktop. 95% of business users still run Windows. Although Vista has been a disaster, it hasn't caused people to switch to Linux: rather, Windows XP usage remains high. True, Apple has tripled its market share in 1 year - but that still leaves them with only 4.2% of the market. And, of course, Apple is a mixed blessing for open source.

On the other hand...like Vista, IE7 has landed in the marketplace with a resounding thud. IE6's market share is declining, and the users aren't going to IE7: they're going to Firefox, which doubled to 18% over the course of the year (without making a push to attract enterprise users). With the imminent release of Firefox 3, it seems likely that Firefox's wins in the browser market will continue.

So what's the deciding factor that makes Firefox a success story? It's easy to point to things like IE7's poor standards support and badly-implemented security system. But there's another factor at work here: Firefox also works in Windows. If 95% of the desktops out there belong to Windows, then the only open-source projects that can possibly get widespread traction (barring a Linux revolution that seems increasingly unlikely as time goes on) are those that work in the dominant software ecosystem. It's a lesson that some other projects might want to take to heart.


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3 Comments
 

I think you've nailed it. Open Source is great and all, but if open source wants to move away from the uber-geek tech community and become viable stand-alone products/businesses, they have to start catering to the Microsoft users.

Time to keep your principles and MS-hatred aside and start embracing Bill, Steve and the rest of the oppressors in Redmond for the foreseeable future.


0 Votes

The large enterprise is always slow to adopt new (unproven/tested) technologies and always want to see a reference implementation before taking the plunge - for good reason too.

That's why Microsoft will continue to be THE player in the enterprise desktop - hence the dominance of Windows XP inspite of Vista's failure.

Its always funny to see the Open Source pundits write Microsoft off without giving it a second thought...


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I suspect that you can take another step here and hypothesize that the issue is switching cost. It’s expensive in the short term to change the OS and retrain everyone that uses it. Those costs can be justified if there’s tangible benefits. Firefox provides benefits with a low switching cost. OpenOffice may do the same over time; the jury’s still out on that one.


0 Votes
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