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Look at the numbers: The first commercially packaged versions of Linux came to market only in 1994. According to IDC, Linux now accounts for an "amazing" 27% of the market for server operating systems, up from less than half of 1% in 1995. More than half of all Web servers sold today run Linux. Sales of entry-level servers (characterized as costing less than $100,000) running Linux grew in 2001, to 486,000 units worldwide, while sales of Windows NT and Unix servers declined in the same time period.
At the same time, industry leaders IBM, Oracle, Intel and others have committed resources--in IBM's case billions of dollars--to Linux marketing, support and development. Roughly 10% of Dell Computer's servers are sold with Linux pre-installed, according to the company.
That Linux penetrated corporate America the way it has is surprising when one considers the competition: Microsoft's Windows and Sun's Solaris. Despite its promise and its momentum, Linux will not wipe out Unix, Windows or any other well-established technology. But like others before it--minicomputers, PCs, the Internet--Linux will likely marginalize older technologies because the value proposition is too great to ignore.
Is it disruptive to the status quo? Absolutely.
Go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script.
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