The real value of Linux

Hamish Taylor
Friday, 19 December 2008 05:23

Opinion and Analysis

It is interesting to take a look at the "big four" Linux companies and their position in the market, especially when comparing the number of paid employees and the impact that these, relatively tiny, companies are having on the market.

Canonical, the sponsor of Ubuntu and it's derivatives (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Server and others) is a company of approximately 200 employees worldwide. Red Hat employs around 2500 people. Novell employs around 4500. And Mandriva around 130. (These figures were sourced from the company's websites).

All up that is 7330 people. Of course, those companies are reliant on support from their "communities" of developers, however I am comparing paid employee figures.

Microsoft's employee numbers are around 90,000. That is 12.28 times bigger than all four of the "major" Linux companies combined! Realistically you'd expect Microsoft to have a pretty big slice of market share, and they do. The most often quoted figures are between 85-90%.

When Microsoft has to keep responding to the continually evolving "threat" that Linux poses, consumers and businesses are the ones who benefit. We get more useful functionality, lower prices, extended support and generally better software.

For example, what influence did the Beryl and Compiz projects have on Microsoft's 3D Aero interface in WinVista? What influence did Mozilla Firefox have on the introduction of tabbed browsing into Internet Explorer 7? What influence is Linux's lack of viruses, trojans and spyware having on the Windows security model? Oh, hang on...it's getting better, but they're still working on that one!

The real value of Linux is that it keeps Microsoft on it's toes. That's why Linux should be supported and not shunned. I, for one, want to see Linux getting better (and I am actively trying to help with that), as it means that Windows will get better too.

Microsoft has one mission: to make as much money for it's shareholders as possible. Imagine what Microsoft would become without the competition from both Apple and Linux. They'd have no incentive to keep improving. Would we still be using MS-DOS? Scary, huh!

Hooray for alternatives, choices and healthy competition!

As always, please leave feedback, comments and questions. However, I will only respond to comments left on iTWire article discussion forums. The direct link for this article is here.