Rapid growth in the market for x86 servers over the past year brought good news for both Linux and Windows, as research firm IDC reported last week.
What's not always appreciated, however, is just how significant a portion of the market Linux servers are getting to be. Whereas unit shipments of Windows servers increased 28.2 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2010, Linux server revenue grew 30.0 percent to $1.8 billion when compared with the second quarter of 2009. Linux servers now represent 16.8 percent of all server revenue, up 2.5 points over 2Q09.

That's no accident. Linux is eminently better suited to server use than Windows is--better than most any other competitor, I'd argue. Why? Let's count the ways.

1. Stability

Linux systems are well known for their ability to run for years without failure; in fact, many Linux users have never seen a crash. That's great for users of every kind, but it's particularly valuable for small and medium-sized businesses, for which downtime can have disastrous consequences.

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