Market share of Linux PCs to double by 2008: IDC

Global market share of new and used PCs running Linux operating system is expected to grow from 3 percent in 2003 to 7 percent in 2008, IDC, a US high tech market research firm, predicted on Wednesday. Releasing a study on Linux market, IDC projected that some 17 million Linux PCs will be sold that year, bringing the total installed base to 42.6 million. IDC estimated that the overall Linux ecosystem will grow 25.9 percent annually to reach 35.7 billion US dollars in 2008. Of that, 14 billion dollars will be packaged software, 10 billion dollars PCs and 11 billion dollars servers. The research firm said Linux PCs are expected to account for less than 4 percent of unit shipments in the Americas and more than 9 percent in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific countries in 2008. "Linux is no longer a fringe player. Linux is now mainstream," IDC said in a statement.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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Howard Sholkin
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