Linux Developers Embrace Non-Commercial Distributions

Dear LWN Editors,
As Linux has matured and found an ever increasing foothold on developer 
and end user machines, there has been a noted preference for commercial 
versions of Linux over non-commercial versions. The main reason for the 
allegiance to commercial Linux has been support that’s less available 
for the non-commercial versions.

But, as the knowledge base of Linux and its own special set of 
installation and maintenance issues grows, the need to rely on support 
has diminished and the largest increase in responses to the question 
“What is the biggest advantage of a commercial version of Linux?” was 
“None”, which grew by my than 50% in the last six months.

Evans Data Corp. has just released its latest Linux Development Survey, 
the full press release follows in-line below. There are many more data 
points from the survey that could not be touched upon in the press 
release, if there is a particular angle or technology in the Linux area 
that you would be interested in seeing data for then please just let me 
know and I'll get a package of data pulled together as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
Erik C. Orgell

-- 

Erik C. Orgell
Director of Public Relations
Evans Data Corp.
831 457-9013
eriko@evansdata.com

*LINUX DEVELOPERS MOVING TOWARDS NON-COMMERCIAL LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS, NEW 
EVANS DATA SURVEY*


        *Survey Shows Factors Leading to Increase in Non-Commercial
        Linux Use*

*SANTA CRUZ, CA, April 13, 2005 *– Linux developers have used commercial 
versions of Linux more than non-commercial versions in the past, in 2003 
the preference for a commercial version of Linux was double that of 
non-commercial Linux, but, according to Evans Data Corporation’s new 
Spring 2005 Linux Development Survey, that has now changed and Linux 
developers now prefer non-commercial versions of Linux. Six months ago, 
purchased and free Linux were in a virtual tie, now 34% prefer 
non-commercial versions of Linux and 28% prefer a commercial version. 
(http://www.evansdata.com/cgi/relocate.php?key=lnx2005_1_1)

Commercial distributions of Linux have garnered support in the past 
primarily because of access to technical support. In the last six months 
25% fewer Linux developers believe that support is the biggest advantage 
a commercial version of Linux has over a non-commercial version. Twenty 
percent of Linux developers don’t believe there are any advantages to a 
commercial version over a non-commercial version, a 50% increase in the 
last six months.

“The sharp drop off of belief in ‘support’ being the biggest advantage 
is another strong indicator of the quality of the non-commercial 
offerings. Considering that 85% of Linux developers feel the biggest 
advantage of non-commercial Linux is the ease and cost of upgrades and 
maintenance, it can be taken as another sign of the maturity of the 
non-commercial distributions of Linux,” said John F. Andrews, COO of 
Evans Data.

Additionally, the February 2005 survey of more than 400 Linux developers 
found that the largest disparity between importance and satisfaction 
with Linux development tools can be found in Error Detection Tools and 
Debuggers. Error detection tools are believed to be “critical” or “very 
important” to almost 50% of Linux developers but less than 25% are 
satisfied and 23% indicated that they “need work”. Debuggers are the 
third most important tool but only 40% of developers think the tools are 
“excellent” or “very good”. 
(http://www.evansdata.com/cgi/relocate.php?key=lnx2005_1_2)

*About Evans Data Corporation*

Evans Data Corporation (www.evansdata.com <http://www.evansdata.com/>>) 
provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on 
in-depth surveys of the global developer population. Evans' syndicated 
research includes surveys focused on developers in a wide variety of 
subjects.