Study: Developers Favor Linux: Page 2

The organizations that these developers work for (or are aligned with) will be taking a look at many open source applications in the next two years, the survey finds.

A hefty 69% will consider open source browser Firefox, with 70% planning on considering application development software.

Given the popularity of open source among survey respondents, it’s not surprising that they favor Linux as the best OS for the majority of applications. It's their top pick for Web-related apps (68%), embedded systems development (61%), and high performance computing (HPC) (56%). Linux is also a popular selection for personal productivity apps (44%).

In terms of security, survey respondents indicate they think Linux is safer than all Windows releases – by a wide margin. Respondents also rank Linux safer than all Unix variants (including the Mac OS), though by a smaller percentage. The reason behind respondents’ belief in the security of Linux: 81% report that their servers have never been compromised by a security attack.

One time-honored open source practice that the survey reveals is very much alive: developers are using chunks of code from the open source library, or open source third party solutions, to complete their own projects.

The survey finds the practice is particularly popular because of today’s tight development cycles. Also driving popularity is the cornucopia of open source choices that are now available. Some 32% of developers say “ease of use” prompts them to use pre-written open source code, with 25% reporting “quality” as their rationale.