Linux on the low end
Our friends at Evans Data and Forrester recently noted that 19% of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are already running Linux servers.
This number may seem small to the casual observer who would correctly assume that the other 81% are Windows based, with a handful of shops maintaining NetWare or even some proprietary UNIX variants. But two things show that the Windows hold on SMB servers is ready to rupture:
The next 8%: The same study discovered that next year, 27% percent of SMBs will have Linux running on servers. We have grown accustomed to explosive Linux growth rates, but have seen it mainly in the enterprise. Rapid growth in SMBs was not considered a possibility given the arcane UNIX-based knowledge required to get Linux up and running.
The usability factor: Linux has become simple enough that the skill-limited IT staffs in SMBs can deploy Linux successfully. And if their Linux skills are a little rough, there are significant technical support and training options to get novice Linux admins started.
Microsoft didn’t create usability, but they did mass market it. Anyone duly proficient on a Windows desktop, and possessing rudimentary IT and networking knowledge, could get a Windows server up and running. This was very attractive to SMBs who opted for cheaper IT generalists instead of attached sets of expensive IT category experts. I’ve even heard tell of a secretary being assigned a Windows server install project . . . and succeeding.
And now Linux is “good enough”.
The story of “good enough”
When I was marketing for a small tech firm (long, long ago) I asked the President and Chief Technology Officer about all the UNIX variants we ported to, including Apple and the then nascent Linux. I asked if these platforms were really something that a smart business would rely upon He said, in his typical blunt manner “They’re good enough.”
That lesson cannot be lost on technology marketers, and hopefully not lost on the folks in Redmond. IT technology buyers would love perfection, but will settle for “good enough” if other needs are met. For SMBs, ease of deployment and administration were critical needs, and Linux now meets those needs. Doubt this? Grab the latest Novell/SUSE Enterprise Linux distribution and install a data center hub handling basic email, web, DNS, DHCP, LDAP, and everything else you might want to establish. Easy, simple, point-and-click . . . and cheap.
For SMBs, Linux is “good enough.”
The other 27%
Not only will 27% of SMB datacenters be running Linux next year, 27% of these shops think Linux will be ruling the majority of their servers by then. This explains, in part, why Microsoft is again focusing on the client and how it works with (SharePoint) servers. It may be their only way to block Linux momentum.
