Survey: 20 per cent of key MS customers consider Linux

A survey carried out by Microsoft of Exchange users reports that 20 per cent of them are considering Linux as an alternative OS. The fact that the question "Are you considering Linux as a possible alternate OS in the future?" even made it into a Microsoft survey is an indication of the level of angst the company is currently experiencing. Whatever, it's a humorous own-goal for our friends at Microsoft UK. The survey was carried out at the inaugural meeting of the Microsoft Exchange Forum at MS' Reading UK HQ in March - i.e., these are Microsoft's friends who're thinking of committing apostasy. You can get that 20 per cent into context if you look at a couple of other numbers. First of all, 52 per cent said they weren't (phew) but 28 per cent were uncertain. Microsoft doesn't like don't knows, it likes convinced supporters, so it will be worried about this. Actually, we're a bit worried about people who say they're not sure whether or not they're considering something. The survey population's principle OS was NT for about 70 per cent, Novell for 20 per cent, while Unix and "other" barely register. So it's a pretty MS-committed mob, apparently. But only 29 per cent of them say they intend to migrate to Win2k within the first 12 months of launch. Considering something and definitely being committed to it are of course two separate things, but the numbers are close. ®