News
IDC: Microsoft Continues to Dominate
- By Scott Bekker
- February 28, 2001
While the
Justice Department has set out to stop
Microsoft Corp.’s monopolistic practices
on the OS market, it has its work cut out for it. A new report from industry
analysts
IDC says that not only has Microsoft’s
stronghold on that market not weakened since the start of the antitrust trial,
but the company has actually gained market share.
During 2000, Windows increased its hold on both the desktop
and server, according to the report. Windows accounted for 41 percent of server
operating environment (SOE) and a commanding 92 percent of shipments for the
client operating environment (COE).
“The strong are getting stronger,” said Dan Kusnetzky, vice
president of IDC’s Operating Environments research. “In what could have easily
been a tough year for Microsoft because of its transition to Windows 2000, the
company managed to increase its position in both the client and the server
operating environments market.”
Not only did Microsoft increase its SOE shipments, it
increased them at a rate significantly faster than the overall market.
According to IDC, Microsoft’s SOE shipments jumped 20 percent in 2000, while
the overall market’s growth was less than 13 percent. With 24 percent growth,
Linux was the only other category of operating environment to increase its
shipments faster than Microsoft – in fact, to increase at all.
On the desktop, the growth was slower but still
overwhelmingly dominated by Microsoft. Only Windows and Linux increased their
shipments. Windows 98/98 SE shipments rose by 36 percent over the previous
year, while Windows 95 shipments fell off dramatically. Linux remained a minor
player with 2 percent of desktop market share, but growth was up by 25 percent.
Overall, Windows 9x and Me shipments were only up by 8 percent, but Microsoft
increased its market share by almost 3 percent.
Linux, however, continues to garner backing from several
major IT players, including IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., and Dell Computer Corp., which are all shipping
workstations with Linux already installed.
The report, Server Operating Environments: 2000 Year in Review,
is available by contacting IDC. – Isaac
Slepner
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.