Posted on 07/03/2007 6:54:01 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Microsoft's Windows platform is losing traction with application developers in North America, according to a survey by Evans Data.
A survey this spring of more than 400 developers and IT managers in North America found that the number of developers targeting Windows for their applications declined 12 percent from a year ago. Just 64.8 percent targeted the platform as opposed to 74 percent in 2006.
"We attribute [the decline] largely to the increase in developers beginning to target Linux and different Linux [distributions]. Both Novell and Red Hat are the two dominant ones right now," said John Andrews, the CEO of Evans Data.
The arrival of Windows Vista likely only kept the numbers from being even worse. "I think Vista probably offset some of the decline," Andrews said.
The share for Windows is expected to drop another 2-percent, to about 63 percent, in the next year, Andrews said.
The targeting of Linux by developers increased by 34 percent to 11.8 percent. It had been 8.8 a year ago, according to the survey. Linux targeting is expected to reach 16 percent over the next year.
Evans views the situation as a battle of Windows versus open source with open source maturing, Andrews said. Windows remains tops, though. "They're still dominant, there's no doubt about it," said Andrews. Use of Windows on the development desktop remains steady.
The survey, featuring developers at enterprises and solution providers like system integrators, covered both client and server application development.
Evans Data said the shift away from Windows began about two years ago and is accelerating. Linux is benefiting as are non-traditional client devices. Evans Data also surveyed developer plans for such platforms as Unix and Mac OS but did not release those numbers.
A Microsoft representative said Monday no one was available from the company to comment on the Evans Data report.
Andrews said the verdict still is out on the full impact that open-source software is having on the commercial software market but noted that there will always be a place for both paradigms.
In other findings in the Evans Data Spring North American Development survey, Evans found that JavaScript is the most widely used scripting language. It has more than three times the users of PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), Ruby, or Python. But Ruby usage is expected to increase by 50 percent within the coming year.
Also gathering steam is virtualisation. A third of developers surveyed are writing applications that support virtualisation with 42.5 percent expected to adopt it within the next year.
“People don’t realize how hard it is to create an operating system, especially one that has to work with every piece of hardware and software.”
I agree, and give credit where credit’s due to Microsoft. That doesn’t excuse their tendency towards feature bloat, poor security, and the egregious DRM crap in Vista. Bill Gates thinks HE owns your desktop and you should just be glad that he deigns to let you use it the way you want to.
Alright, try using a laptop’s built in card reader ports...
Again, after install, allot of hardware won’t work properly, and people want an OS they can install and use right away, at least with Windows if the driver isn’t their you can easily find it online as opposed the great driver hunt that is Linux, and half the time it’s just source code that needs to be compiled since there are too many kernel variables with every different distro, there’s no standardization.
High and mighty? I don't know any linux user like that.
However, Linux is not Windows. It never will be, and it's not meant to be. The methods Windows uses are not the methods Linux uses. This doesn't make Linux any more difficult--just different. There are different places to find software--because it's NOT Windows.
If all you are looking for is a Non-Windows windows, then stick with Windows.
I'll take your word on it, though.
I have it running on a couple of my machines, thanks to a post on here some time ago. They driected me to a site www.goodbyemicrosoft.com, which seems to be unreachable lately. Just a front page with no content, so it either went under because of the enormous traffic, or Redmond shook them down with the ususal barratry.
I find it easier to use and less geeky than Red Hat.
One of these days Linux will be ready for Joe Sixpack. But regardless of what happens, there will never be Vista here, not ever. I am not an MSbasher-I have been a loyal user since MSDOS. But my introduction to Vista was, after a few hours, raging furious hatred.
You gotta be kidding me.
Just yesterday a friend (NOT computer savvy) was complaining that the new laptop with VISTA on it did not allow installing Yahoo Messenger.
Microshaft up to its old tricks...
Windows XP is about to be installed, as soon as soon as we can find the time to deal with it long distance.
Unfortunately, the home computer world is 30% geeks and 70% normal human beings with a life.
The geeks have no problem switching when the frustration level rises enough (Protected contents?), so a good chunk of them already run Linux.
The rest of us? It's just a matter of when.
It’s not a matter of making Linux link Windows, it’s a matter of standardizing the software install process and kernel across all distros.
The problem with Linux is that it’s not easy enough for the common user to use or fix if there’s a problem.
If they screw up and use the wrong video module and X doesn’t start there’s no easy way to fix it half the time, unless you know to run XF86Config under root, and even then there’s no guarantees they can fix it.
My point is that Linux is not easy to use, fix or install and use out of the box.
I had heard horror stories of VISTA in beta testing. I have XP sp1 on my PC. I ran across a good deal on a laptop. I had been looking for a back up/extra machine since the previous PC crashed and I do all my banking, etc., online. I also wanted to get a machine that was pre-VISTA. The laptop has XP sp2.
I continue to hear more horror stories about VISTA. I think I will bypass it.
Macintosh is much more widely used for desktop work. I think Vista has fueled a WHOLE lot of interest in the Mac. :-)
The latest Intel Macs, both desktop and portable, are top notch.
I’ve worked for financial companies also, that has mostly to do with upgrading, since they don’t want to spend a damn cent.
They also have been using mainframes and unix for so long, that moving to windows would require a software rewrite of epic proportions, so that’s the major reason for no windows.
Umm, Ubuntu?
Just go to "Add/Remove..." in the Applications menu and add or remove any software you want. No compiling necessary.
We already know Linux isn't as standard or supports as much hardware as Windows. But there are advantages to having multiple distibutions in that you can find one that works best for your situation.
I know many people (I'm one of them) who have older laptops can get more hardware support from some Linux distributions, than they can from old versions of Windows.
Second, installing and removing software on most distros is now included in the menu:
The only other gripe with merit is the one about where to find third-party software on the Internet. Search is your friend.
As far as hardware support, I believe that there are a wider variety of hardware that Linux supports that Windows doesn't. Most of those hardware items include older hardware and specialty items, though.
Dell saw the light, and now offers new desktops and laptops with Windows XP. I got a good deal -- a wide-screen XP laptop for less than $700.
I'm not a Linux evangelist, but I am increasingly ready to bite the bullet and deal with the quirks of an open source operating system
I am NOT ready now -- or ever --- to deal with the "in your face" 'protected contents - cripple your computer' VISTA.
Yep--they also offer Ubuntu on a few of their machines as well.
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