Market share of developers working on Microsoft Windows is down twelve percent since last year, from 74% in a 2006 survey to 64.8% in a 2007 survey. Linux jumped 30% from 8.8% to 11.8%. That's a scary trendline for Microsoft and everyone who has their trailer hitched to their semi.
Use of the Ruby language is expected to grow 50% over the next year. Note that almost all Ruby on Rails development will target Linux (as per manufacturer recommendation), and there's no economic reason to run it on Windows. There is virtually no desktop software written in Ruby.
The shift to web-based application development is picking up serious steam. A tiny minority of Windows defectors might target Linux desktop software, but most of them are targeting Linux as a web hosting platform. For example, most people who work at Google target Linux servers and generic browser clients, although the Picasa and Google Earth teams include Windows alongside Mac and Linux in their target platforms.
These developers that are abandoning Microsoft are not switching teams: they're switching games.
1 comment:
Oh don't worry. Big companies like mine will keep Microsoft in business. I got told yesterday (even if it was slightly tongue in cheek) (after laying out the arguments for becoming more platform independent) that suggesting we leave Windows was "crossing the beams". And that was from the person that responded - others have just ignored my proposal. :)
I'm guessing there will always be a certain amount of inertia-driven development keeping Microsoft selling development tools.
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