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As usual the Systems OS world is ruled by Windows and its various flavors, and FY 09 was no different. But the proprietary windows world did face some serious competition with Linux further making its way up, thanks to the recession, as some companies looked at open source OS as a method to bring IT acquisition costs down. If we look at the enterprise side of things, a leading development that surprised many in the industry was the interoperability agreement on Virtualization between Red Hat and Microsoft.

The agreement enabled both Microsoft and Red Hat to validate their respective server OS running on each others hypervisors. The significance of this agreement was that from now on enterprise customers can deploy virtualization on Windows server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on both MS and Red Hat hypervisors and configuration support.

But Microsoft did not have any great respect for open source and went on to aggressive pitch on the unique value that Windows brings to all computing environments whether it is server or desktop or notebook computing. On the server side, the launch of Windows Foundation server for SMBs at a lower cost and rich in functionality, was a significant one. Another significant update over the last year for Microsoft in the large enterprise front was the Windows Server 2008, built to suit the demanding applications and web services.

CyberMedia Research                                                                                             DQ Estimates

Others include IBM UNIX, SCO UNIX, etc *1 (includes Windows Vista, XP, and Windows Mobile) *2 (includes Red Hat, Novell SuSe, Ubuntu, and others)

Its still a Windows world but Linux is growing, and that got validated by its 27% growth. On the UNIX front it was a three horse race with Sun, HP and IBM battling it out

The Linux challenge was more pronounced last year, more so due to the recession that nudged many to look at open source for better RoI. And that probably made Microsoft aggressively advocate that open source is not actually free and customers end up paying for licensing and subscription fees, among other things. Overall for Microsoft, the Server and Tools Business (STB) is high value business and here is where it makes a significant slice of the enterprise revenues. On the desktop OS side, the RC version of Windows 7 was the most anticipated one. And in a significant move, Microsoft did not enforce huge hardware compatibility for Win 7 and machines running Vista can seamlessly migrate to Win 7. This in a way enabled more developers to download Win 7 and will definitely go a long way in making the final product, slated to be released soon.

The key verticals Microsoft attacked over the last year were government and telecom, as traditional buying from BFS and manufacturing went through a cautious mode in terms of IT spending. Moves like launching the XP Starter edition in Hindi also augured well as Microsoft was able to make further inroads into the government sector. But government was still a challenging vertical for Microsoft as some of state governments are staunch Linux supporters.

Open Source: Demand Goes Up
Clearly, in FY 09 the marketing pitch Linux vendors like Red Hat adopted were lesser TCO and greater RoI. While Microsoft negated it, many CIOs did explore Linux as an alternate to proprietary, at least for the short term until they can get bigger IT budgets from the management.

The interoperability agreement between Red Hat and Microsoft on virtualization is an ample proof point of the growing clout of players like Red Hat and their virtualization capabilities. Red Hat, for instance, made considerable headway last year with major customer wins like LIC, APTDC, Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) and Axis Bank, among others. Other Linux vendors also managed to do good business; Novels Linux revenues grew by 57% over the year and it partnered with Intel to build Linux platform for rich Internet experience.

One key driver for Linux adoption in FY 09 was its far lesser TCO even if you factor in the licensing cost. Another was that Linux OS remained immune from virus and other malicious codes which was a big challenge for MS OS. But while Linux fared well on the enterprise side, its still a laggard in the desktop side on the consumer front. So far, in an Indian context, Linux had fared dismally on the consumer desktop side, which is one area where Windows position remained rock solid.

CyberMedia Research                   DQ Estimates

Numbers says it all, Microsoft dominates and others follow at a distance

Unix: Holding its Ground
Over the years, the Unix server business had undergone a big change in terms of customer demography. Unix is no longer considered as an OS for a few and since the last few years its becoming increasingly mainstream. While SUN leads the Unix market in terms of volume shipments its Solaris OS continued as a preferred OS in application scenarios that demanded multi-threaded performance.

Meanwhile, HPs UX 11i had a great year with various wins from Telecom and BFS segments in India. HP was able to gain large mandates on the large enterprise front for its Unix offerings.

IBMs rise to the number one Vendor in non-x86 Unix market shows its spectacular performance on AIX offerings in its System P side. According to IDCs Asia Pacific Enterprise Server tracker IBM has emerged as the leader in the India non-x86 Unix Server market in terms of factory revenue in Q1 09 (JFM 2009 quarter). IBM was the only vendor to attain a positive year-on-year revenue growth of 4.3% (Q1 09 over Q1 08) in the India non-x86 Unix Server market. IBMs AIX OS can co-exist with Linux; its Power 520 Express Unix server provides the flexibility to use AIX and Linux apps on the same server.

The Third Screen: Mobile OS
Last year was a good one for Windows Mobile 6.1, with overall buoyancy in the smart phones powered by Windows Mobile. While Symbian might be the mass Mobile OS, due to Nokias dependence, new generation touch screen smart phones are increasingly tilting towards Win Mobile OS. But Linux based mobiles are yet to make a mark and only few players like Motorola are patronizing Linux based smart phones. Microsoft is already working an update to its Windows Mobile OS and the latest version 6.5 would be launched soon. But the outlook for the Mobile OS market is very interesting for 2009-10, as Google prepares for its Android OS and its mass market adoption has to be seen.

What emerges from last year, from the computing and mobile OS market, is that there is a high degree of convergence thats happening. From a desktop, the user goes to a server/notebook environment at the corporate and to a mobile environment while on the go. So irrespective of the OS, the user looks at seamless rollover from one device platform to another, and the OS that provides him that will emerge as the ultimate winner. If we look at last year, that OS was surely Windows and its various flavors, while competition followed at a distance.

Shrikanth G
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in

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