Yet another study of Microsoft vs. Linux

Yankee Group has produced a study showing that Microsoft now surpasses Linux in the war of perceptions. The study, by Yankee analyst Laura DiDio, has some surprising findings:

• In terms of total cost of ownership, respondants rated Windows and Linux nearly the same.


• In terms of quality, performance and reliability, 88% of the respondents said Windows was equal to or better than Linux.


• In terms of security, Windows is catching up with Linux. Respondants rated Microsoft's security at 7.6 on a scale of one to 10, double the rating in a similar survey conducted last year. Linux's rating was better than that of Windows, but nearly the same as last year's study, at 8.3.

The study also found that Linux and Windows are both growing in market share at the expense of Unix.

Computerworld has more.

Update, Apr. 27. In the comments, reader Paul points to a post on Groklaw refuting the Yankee study. The Groklaw post links to an article by Steve Hamm in Business Week, The Truth about Linux and Windows. Hamm talks directly to Yankee analyst Laura DiDio and other Yankee researchers and finds much to criticize about Yankee's research methods in this case.

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