New technology models don't succeed if all they offer is better, faster or cheaper alternatives to the established market leaders. They have to offer benefits to the user that the old technology model could not deliver. The PC was not better, faster or even cheaper (on a per-user basis) than the mini-computer of the late '70s. But it did deliver benefits to its users that minicomputers could not.
The misunderstanding that John is suffering from is illustrated by his completely unsubstantiated claim: "Open source has gained so much momentum without showing any goods. It's a dot-com -- all hype and speculation and no fundamentals."
Add it up Here are a few of the fundamentals that John is missing:
Linux-based OSes have the leading market share of Web servers powering the Internet's public Web sites, with 31 percent of all sites, according to a Netcraft study. The next most popular OS has only 20 percent.
Linux-based OSes represented 24 percent of all new server shipments last year, up from 15 percent the year before. Linux-based OSes are the only OS with growing market share, according to figures from IDC.
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