Windows servers overtake Unix servers for number 1 spot

Microsoft's Windows servers last year overtook Unix servers as the largest sellers for the first time ever, according to an IDC report.

Computer makers sold $17.7 billion worth of Windows servers worldwide in 2005 compared with $17.5 billion in Unix servers, IDC analyst Matthew Eastwood said of the firm's latest Server Tracker market share report. "It's the first time Unix was not top overall since before the Tracker started in 1996."

And in another first, fast-growing Linux took third place, bumping machines with IBM's mainframe operating system, z/OS. Linux server sales grew from $4.3 billion in 2004 to $5.3 billion in 2005, while mainframes dropped from $5.7 billion to $4.8 billion over the same period, Eastwood said.

And a bunch of other interesting trends have emerged. The vast majority of servers sold are now sub $25,000. This category sees strong growth and is led by IBM, HP and Dell. Sun looks set to make a comeback this year with their new line-up of cheaper servers and with Solaris going open-source. AMD has made strong gains.

And Blade servers are the future. Other than that expect to see Windows servers continue to extend their lead and watch Linux Servers overtake Unix servers in the number 2 spot by 2010. And these last are TechBoards predictions - so they must be right - yeah?