Sunworld heeft een artikel over een rapport van IDC waaruit naar voren komt dat Unix terrein aan Windoos NT heeft verloren op de workstation markt.
A bulletin released by International Data Corp. (IDC) reveals 22 percent growth of workstation shipments in 1998 over 1997, with volume reaching 2.3 million units. However, due to a huge increase in shipments of cheaper "branded" Windows NT workstations (workstations marketed explicitly as workstations, not high-end desktops) as a fraction of total units, revenues actually declined by 3 percent to $14.7 billion over the same period, said IDC.Hewlett-Packard was the overall leader in unit shipments (21 percent), followed by Dell (16 percent). While Sun was the overall leader in revenue (23 percent), followed by HP (22 percent), its hold on the lead may be in jeopardy, because of the rising popularity of NT workstations.
"The lower cost of high-performance, Intel-based Windows NT systems brought workstation capabilities to a much broader set of users than has historically been the case with Unix workstations. The result has been a significant increase in units ships, but a modest decline in overall workstation revenue," said Tom Copeland, Director for IDC's Workstation Research group.
[...] None of this is good news for Unix, says IDC, because it means NT is encroaching rapidly on Unix's enterprise strongholds.
"With more branded NT workstations shipping than Unix workstations in 1998, NT is driving the growth in the workstation market. NT workstations have surpassed the start-up phase and have become mainstream in the workstation market," said Copeland.