The study said that hardware is the largest component of TCO of Indian enterprises; software is just about 15% of capex and 7% of TCO. Windows 2003 environment across enterprises was reported to have nearly 16% lower TCO than Linux over five-year peiod; and TCO of Linux was greater than that of Windows across three workloads that accounted for nearly 80% of x86 server workload; applications, networking and e-mail.

Linux Grabs Some Turf
Though Linux has been threatening to usurp some of Windows turf for a few years now, during 2006-07 the challenge intensified with the Linux market itself crossing Rs 200 crore. The giant was undoubtedly Red Hat with a share of 88%, with the rest of the pie contributed by Novell (with SuSe Linux), and other small distributors like Ubuntu, Mandriva, Debian, PC LinuxOS, and Knoppix.

The government also chose the year to proactively start moving from Unix to Linux. Naturally, the Linux thrust came more on the server side, with many CIOs trying out Linux-based servers for reliability and security. And, for once, the Left parties followed in action what they preached. Both Kerala and West Bengal governments adopted Linux to accelerate their e-Gov initiatives.

With developers rallying behind Linux, Sun Microsystems revamped its Solaris operating system by incorporating key pieces of Linux into it. This move was aimed at re-establishing Solaris as a favorite with developers. The Solaris code was open-sourced for "open high availability clusters" to further Suns open-source strategy that could increase market share, sales, and its influence among open source developers.

The Mobile Play
During the year, Microsoft India launched Windows Mobile, in alliance with Bharti. By year-end, Windows Mobile had crossed the 200,000-unit mark. The solution was available on the widest portfolio of smart phones available in India with close to 30 models to choose from Microsoft device partners like HP, iMate, O2, and HTC/Dopod. Windows Mobile was the numero uno player in the messaging space in India with a 30.5% share of high-end smartphones in the JFM quarter far ahead of Blackberrys 19.1% share.

Rajneesh De
rajneeshd@cybermedia.co.in

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