Linux and Windows grow data center market share

As Computerworld reports, the search for simplicity is driving Linux and Windows into the data center in ever growing numbers. Gartner expects Windows to hit $19.6 billion in 2007, growing to $22.2 billion by 2012, 13% growth. Linux will pull in $8.6 billion in 2007 and boom to $12.2 billion by 2012, 40% growth. Linux, then, is growing faster, but largely because it's starting from a smaller installed base.

The big loser in all this is Unix, which will not lose revenues (holding flat at roughly $16 billion), but won't grow them. Consolidation of operating systems in the data center primarily involves Linux and Windows going forward:

Users will also continue to seek to simplify their environment, often by cutting back on the number of operating systems where possible. In an audience poll, the majority of attendees - 80 percent - were either reducing the number of supported operating systems or maintaining that number, with just one-fifth opting to add to their operating system mix.

The end of Unix? Not today or tomorrow. But Sun, IBM, and HP need to be worried about trends that point to growth outside their Unix platforms.