Software developers say Linux is safer than WinXP

New research shows that confidence in Linux as a secure platform is up. A recent survey conducted by the research firm Evans Data shows that Linux’s reputation as stable and secure operating system is growing among people who write code for a living.

The recent survey of 500 professional software developers conducted by Evans Data found that 23% of respondents said they thought Linux was the most secure operating system, while 8% said they viewed Windows XP as the most secure.

According to the survey, developer confidence in Linux is up from a survey taken six months ago, where 19% said they thought Linux was most secure. (XP dropped in the minds of developers, going from 14% to 8%.)

The survey also found that open source code, modules and tools are used more widely among developers than they were a few years ago. In a 2001 survey, Evans Data found that 38% of the 500 developers it surveyed said they used open source code in the applications they write. The most recent findings showed that 63% of developers incorporate open source today.

Overall confidence in Linux as a mission-critical serving platform was also up from past year’s surveys. While 34% of the 500 developers surveyed in 1999 said they thought Linux was ready for prime time, 64% said in the latest survey that they would trust mission critical applications to run on Linux.