OStatic

With all that goes on at conferences, it would seem that a white paper presentation would be, invariably, a pretty dry event -- with the document itself being even drier. While there are many topics in the Linux Foundation-sponsored IDC white paper, The Opportunity for Linux in a New Economy (linked here as a PDF), and one might choose to quickly skim the research, data and projections, this report is really well worth taking a close look through.

Overall, IDC is a projecting a rosy future for Linux-related growth in the enterprise, with a compound annual growth rate of 23.6% for the 2008-2013 period. The overall market is projected to experience a 5% growth rate over that same time frame.

Fresh on the heels of disappointing quarterly earnings that were largely pinned on underperformance for its Linux business, and a small round of layoffs, Novell and market research firm IDC are out with survey results on Linux interest and adoption. The respondents were executives in the IT industry. There are several notable findings in the survey, including strong interest from respondents in interoperability between Linux and Windows. Here are some of the key results.