A study of CIOs, VPs, and IT Directors for 133 businesses worldwide conducted by Saugatuck Research suggests that by 2012 nearly half of all enterprises will be  running mission critical applications on Linux, according to Techworld.  The study also suggests a steep rise in Linux adoption.  18% of enterprises are predicted to be running mission critical apps on Linux by the end of 2007, with adoption growing by 40% between 2007 and 2009, and growing an additional 80% between 2009 and 2011.

The reason?  According to the study, Linux deals by the likes of Oracle and Microsoft have 'only reinforced the 'open source is enterprise-grade' say  Bruce Guptill and Bill McNee of Saugatuck Research.  They continued, "In short, open source, especially Linux, is being legitimized by the major enterprise vendors, and user executives are more than happy to believe them."

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