IDC on Linux usage in Australia and New Zealand

IDC said usage levels in Australia indicated that the number of respondents using Linux servers had risen from 17.2% at the end of 1999 to 32.4% by the end of 2002 and forecast a figure of 40% by the end of the year. The survey said real growth was occurring in most industry sectors with the public sector leading the way - 37.8% of the respondents had already had experience with Linux. The finance industry appeared to be the slowest adopter, with the lowest uptake of 25% and a forecast of only a 3.6% increase.

The survey found that 38.4% of the respondents were actively involved in some way in deploying an open source operating system while 53.8% said they had no current plans to do so. Around 4.9% had considered the use of such an operating system and decided not to proceed.

In New Zealand the figures were roughly the same, with 55.6% having no plans, 4.2% having decided not to proceed, 16.7% considering the use of such systems and 23.7% involved in active evaluation."The NZ public sector is noticeably more enthusiastic than their counterparts in Australia... public sector organisations have about 29% piloting or rolling out open source solutions with a further 29% considering it. This compares with only 11.1% in Australia," the survey noted.