IDC realized over a year ago that the Linux movement was...

IDC realized over a year ago that the Linux movement was imminent, and at that point in time decided to pull Linux out of the ubiquitous and otherwise ignored 'Other' category in operating environment reporting, ... The reasons IDC decided to treat Linux as it would any other operating system included the belief that Linux had potential to progress beyond its current state, demand-side studies that showed marked Linux usage in a number of industries, and customer demand for expanded Linux research.