Market for Linux operating systems grew in 2008

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

Worldwide revenue from Linux operating system software grew by 23.4 percent from 2007 to 2008, and that growth will be followed by a 2008-2013 compound annual growth rate of 16.9 percent, IDC said in a new report.

A market intelligence firm headquartered in Framingham, IDC said in a press release, "With this growth, worldwide Linux operating systems revenue will cross $1 billion for the first time in 2012, growing to $1.2 billion by 2013."

Al Gillen, program vice president of system software at IDC, said in a statement, "We find that more customers are seeing nonpaid Linux as a viable solution for certain non-critical business needs, despite the lack of commercial applications and the potential support challenges that come with a non-commercially-supported distribution."

Another finding from the report: "The top revenue-producing vendors are Red Hat and Novell, which together account for 94.5 percent of worldwide Linux operating systems revenue in 2008."