Linux desktops not taking off: IDC 16834

Well, Rex, what would you want instead? The purpose of a market survey is to obtain information that the other guy doesn't have so that you can take actions that the other guy doesn't have an opportunity to counter in a timely way. IDC's published report library isn't such a good source of this kind of info, since they are not so exclusive and so anyone with a couple of bucks can read the same information. But they do serve as a sort of baseline description of the market. The companies with a lot of money can get their own, private studies done. You rarely get to see those unless the company who paid for the survey feels that the compebreastion won't get any use from it and it is news that has a positive effect on the company's image or else may be useful in educating the company's customer base.

Quite a bit of the IDC business is from individuals who might need to track an industry segment, for example a stock broker who deals with upscale clients and so has to have some "private" or "insider" kinds of information to butter up his customers. They want to know simply about what the score is rather than what perceived market needs may lurk in the minds of buyers and be addressed with new products or new features.

It's all about money, after all, and the concern about mindshare and all that is an interesting but only secondary effect. IDC and some others are just the commentators for the half-time show.