The Business Case for Desktop Linux

摘要

It's one of the perennial questions facing the open source movement: Is Linux ready for the corporate desktop? Ready or not, Linux is coming. Industry research company IDC predicts that enough companies will see the benefits of a Linux desktop to increase paid shipments of the operating system from 3.4 million clients worldwide in 2002 to more than 10 million by 2007, giving Linux a small but respectable 6 percent of the desktop market. "Linux captured the No. 2 spot as desktop operating system in 2003," says IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky. "IDC sees Linux main- taining that No. 2 position and growing ever so slightly — but not becoming a dominant force or even a major force."