Microsoft steps up Linux fight in emerging markets

With the release of Windows XP Starter Edition, Linux on the desktop will have a fight on its hands, industry analysts have predicted.

According to Gartner, Microsoft's release of a cut-down Windows XP to several countries in Asia Pacific, Russia and India is a sign that the company is planning to fight Linux for market share on new PCs in these emerging markets.

The analyst firm noted that PC vendors are increasingly using Linux as an insurance policy against Microsoft licence fees in these target markets.

Microsoft would prefer the initial operating system on new PCs to be Windows variants rather than Linux in order to reduce the amount of interest that the open source operating system is generating, said Gartner.

According to the research, about two-fifths of PCs sold in these emerging markets are modified to run a pirated version of Microsoft's Windows before they are used, to save on operating system costs which can account for up to 15 per cent of a PC's total cost.

Microsoft has not failed to notice the rapid increase in the number of PCs shipped with Linux, noted Gartner.

But the analyst added that, while Linux may be free on new PCs, large-scale dedicated deployments are costly and therefore rare.

Gartner listed five barriers that exist to Linux adoption on mainstream desktops: migration costs; interoperability issues with other users; driver availability issues; unwillingness of employers to migrate from the Windows platform and higher training costs.

The analyst predicted that large-scale Linux deployments among mainstream users would become more prevalent only when all of the associated costs have been reduced dramatically - especially those relating to interoperability and ease of use.