The Linux open source operating system is no longer confined to the server side. In fact, it seems that Linux is not only on an ascendant adoption trend on the desktop, but also starting to be regarded as a viable alternative to Windows. With Microsoft's proprietary Windows client dominating the operating system market, Linux is the indisputable underdog, while at the same time delivering an untapped potential to increase its foothold on the desktop. A new survey, put together by the Linux Foundation, attracting over 20,000 participants indicates that desktop Linux is on the rise.

According to the latest statistics published by Net Applications for October 2007, the various Linux distributions available account for just 0.81% of the operating system market. By comparison, the past month, Windows Vista's share was 7.91%, with Microsoft claiming to have shipped no less than 88 million copies of the operating system. Vista has in fact delivered a sustained and consistent adoption rate throughout 2007, and it is quite close to hitting the 10% of the market as well as 100 million sold licenses worldwide.

Linux too is growing, at a much slower pace, but growing nonetheless. The open source operating system has more than doubled its market share compared to November 2006. This data, as well as statistics provided by Forrester and KACE are supported by the results of the Linux Foundation study. No less than 68.4% of Linux copies have been implemented in small and home offices, with just 9.7% having been adopted into medium-sized businesses and just 6.2% at a corporate level, according to Desktop Linux. The only caveat to adopting Linux is of course the immense volume of distros available. Still, users seem to focus on the major players on the open source market: Canonical, Red Hat and Novell.

54.1% of Linux users have installed the Ubuntu distribution from Canonical, with 50.2 running Fedora - CentOS from Red Hat Enterprise and 35.2% having deployed SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell SUSE. The count exceeds 100% and this situation is illustrative for the lack of standardization in various deployment scenarios and across different organizations. But although Linux is on the rise, its growth is insignificant at this point. Neither the open source operating system, nor Mac OS X have enough pull to dislodge Windows from its dominant position on the market.