[kwlug-disc] Linux winning over coprorate sites

[John Van Ostrand]

The Netcraft surveys (http://news.netcraft.com/ssl-sample-report/) have always been interesting to me. Seeing the sometimes large swings in sites as enormous hosting companies are wooed by Microsoft to switch, only to have another abandon Windows in favour of Linux.

This time it was the SSL survey that piqued my interest. At first it was the certificate issuer and then the "validation type" stats, since that's been an issue of late.

It really was the "Server Software" and "Operating System" graphs that told the corporate story.

Years ago Microsoft claimed that IIS was the choice for corporate sites, suggesting that Apache was for amateurs. The above two graphs show a different story. I'm making a broad assumption here that SSL certs are mainly used in collecting personal information and payment information or used to cloak authentication and other secure areas from prying eyes. I'm then assuming that these activities are primarily and almost exclusively used for business purposes. Certs are pricey and individuals generally don't pay for them. So that means business sites are using the certs. Certainly any site that is more than just a brochure site will have an SSL cert. That to me means Internet business - corporations - the serious business that Microsoft claimed to be dominant in.

The Server Software graph shows that Apache has held a slim lead over IIS for the last 4 years. The Operating System graph shows Linux head-to-head with Windows as the O/S just this year. Also noticeable is the decline of many other platforms. Solaris (self proclaimed as the dot in dot com) and other Unixes as well as BSD have been in steady decline. Only Linux and "other non-Unix" have trended higher.

The Unknown is also an interesting line. You can see the major changes reflected by the Windows, Linux or "other non-Unix" stats. It seems people were jumping to and from hiding their server.

-- 
John Van Ostrand 
CTO, co-CEO 
Net Direct Inc. 
564 Weber St. N. Unit 12, Waterloo, ON N2L 5C6 
Ph: 866-883-1172 x5102 
Fx: 519-883-8533 

Linux Solutions / IBM Hardware