Survey: Unix has a long and healthy future, say users

There’s no denying the importance Unix has had to IT over the years. As Unix turns 40 this summer, we at Computerworld wanted to find out whether the operating system will continue to play an important role in IT shops or whether its best days are behind it.

If you’re among those who predict the imminent demise of Unix, you might want to reconsider. Computerworld’s 2009 Unix survey of IT executives and managers, conducted online in March and April, tells a different story: While demand appears to be down from our 2003 survey on Unix use, the OS is clearly still going strong.

Of the 211 respondents, 130 (62%) reported using Unix in their organizations. (Most survey responses are based on input from the latter.) Of the respondents whose companies use Unix, 69% indicated that their organizations are “extremely reliant” or “very reliant” on Unix, with another 21% portraying their organizations as “somewhat reliant” on Unix. 10% responded that they were not very reliant or not at all reliant on Unix as an OS.

Applications and reliability/scalability (64% and 51%, respectively) take the lion’s share as drivers for organizational reliance on Unix, with about one-fourth of the survey base pointing to cost considerations, hardware vendors, ease of application integration/development and interoperability as other drivers. Other reasons for reliance included:

* Uptime

* Security, networking, availability of open-source app and systems packages

* Primary customer is a Unix OEM

* Less security risks, no virus, more ROI on installed capacity owned

* Legacy applications with historical data

* It’s not Microsoft

* It just works

* Customer preference

* Bound by application developer

AIX was the most commonly reported flavor of Unix used by the survey base (42%), followed by Solaris/SPARC (39%), HP-UX (25%), Solaris/x86 (22%), Other Unix flavors/versions (19%), Mac OS X Server (12%) and OpenSolaris (10%).

Of the 19% who selected other Unix flavors, most specified some kind of Linux. When asked if they used other Unix-like OSes, 80% said yes and almost all indicated some version of Linux. (So, you might ask, is Linux a flavor of Unix or a Unix-like OS? See “Just what is Unix, anyway?” for thoughts on that question.)

Unix’ role in the future

Almost half (47%) see Unix in 5 years as “an essential operating system with continued widespread deployment.” One-third of the survey respondents selected the prediction that while not essential in 5 years Unix will still be important in some vertical market sectors. Just 11% selected predictions of migration and 5% envision it fading away.

When asked to select a statement describing their Unix strategy, more than half underlined the importance of Unix by selecting “Unix is an essential platform for us and will remain so indefinitely” (42%) or “We are increasing our use of Unix” (15%). Another 18% described Unix’s role as shrinking, but not disappearing. 17% pointed to plans to migrate away from Unix.

Of those who said they were planning on migrating away from Unix, cost was the number one reason, followed by server consolidation, skills shortage and applications.

Survey results

Survey conducted March 31 – April 20, 2009; there were 211 responses.

Numbers may not add up to 100, due to rounding.

Does your organization use Unix?

Yes: 62%

No: 35%

Don’t know: 4%

Base: 211 respondents

What versions of Unix are currently in use by your company? (choose all that apply)

AIX: 42%

Solaris/SPARC: 39%

HP-UX: 25%

Solaris/x86: 22%

Other Unix flavors/versions: 19%

* Linux: 13%

* FreeBSD:

* IRIX:

* Older DEC Unix:

* Unknown:

Mac OS X Server: 12%

OpenSolaris: 10%

HP Tru64 Unix: 5%

SCO UnixWare: 5%

SCO OpenServer: 2%

Base: 130 respondents who said their companies use Unix

How reliant is your company on Unix as an operating system?

Extremely reliant: 35%

Very reliant: 34%

Somewhat reliant: 21%

Not very reliant: 5%

Not at all reliant: 5%

Base: 130 respondents who said their companies use Unix

What drives your company’s reliance on Unix? (choose all that apply)

Applications: 64%

Reliability/scalability: 51%

Cost considerations: 37%

Hardware vendor: 26%

Ease of application integration/development: 25%

Interoperability: 22%

Other: 7%

We are not reliant on Unix as an OS: 6%

Base: 130 respondents who said their companies use Unix

Does your organization use Unix-like OSes?

Yes (choose all that apply): 80%

* Linux: 80%

* Mac OS X:

* GNU:

* FreeBSD:

* VMware ESX:

No: 17%

Don’t know: 3%

Base: 130 respondents who said their companies use Unix

Which of the following best describes your Unix strategy?

Unix is an essential platform for us and will remain so indefinitely: 42%

Unix’s role in our enterprise will shrink but it won’t disappear: 18%

We are increasing our use of Unix: 15%

We expect to migrate away from Unix in the future: 12%

None of the above: 8%

We have already implemented a plan to migrate away from Unix: 5%

Other: 2%

Base: 130 respondents who said their companies use Unix

Of the small minority who indicated that their companies had plans to migrate away from Unix, the top 5 reasons given were:

* Cost

* Server consolidation

* Skills shortage

* Applications

* Other OS offers tighter integration with my apps

Which of the following best describes your vision of where Unix will be in five years?

It will be an essential operating system with continued widespread deployment: 47%

It will be important in some vertical market sectors, but it will not be considered an essential operating environment for most companies: 35%

It will generally be seen as a legacy system warranting a non-Unix migration path: 11%

Unix, as well as other operating systems, will fade in importance as we go to hosted (cloud, software-as-service, etc.) systems: 5%

None of the above: 2%

Other: 1%

Base: 130 respondents who said their companies use Unix

Methodology

The Computerworld survey on the future of Unix and enterprise Unix usage was administered online in March and April 2009.

This survey was fielded among Computerworld’s Inner Circle Research Panel. 211 results are based on the qualified responses of those panel members who reported currently employing Unix in their organizations.

Of the 211 respondents, 130 reported the use of Unix in their organizations. Most survey responses are based on the input from the latter. (Not all respondents answered all questions.) For the purposes of this survey, “Unix” refers to any non-open-source version.

Demographics

35% of the survey respondents indicated that they held executive IT titles, another 16% said they were IT managers, and 13% hold executive business titles. 36% said they were IT/IS technology staffers.

Primary industries represented by respondents in this survey are:

* IT/computer-related services/consulting: 21%

* Education: 9%

* Manufacturing (non-computer-related): 9%

When asked about total 2008 revenue company revenue, 44% indicated annual company revenue of up to US$100 million. 16% reported revenue between $101 million and $999 million. 41% percent said their companies had revenues of $1 billion or greater.

Next: Unix turns 40: The past, present and future of a revolutionary OS