Next year will be a big one for Linux, with new platforms and opportunities in the data center.
In the year to come, we expect to see Linux maintain its torrid development pace, with major new enterprise releases from Red Hat, which is set to ship Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 in January, and Novell, which will also ship an update to its Open Enterprise Server early next year.
What's more, we expect to see one or two new releases from each of the all-free leading-edge distributions we track, such as Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSUSE, along with new developments from the swelling horde of smaller Linux flavors, in both commercial and non-commercial quarters.
Among all these new Linux releases, there will be no shortage of new and improved functionality for platform devotees to consume, but, since Linux remains somewhat of an outsider among OS platforms, what's most worth watching for in 2007 are the new deployment routes along which the platform will wend its way toward greater market share.