Emerging Trends in System Software Market: A Case Study of Operating System Software

Abstract

 Information Technology has evolved over a period of time from Electronic Data Processors (EDP) to 
Cloud based technologies. Software is a critical component in this industry. The core product 
component in software is the set of instructions in the form of source code. During inception of the 
industry, source code was accessible at no cost. In the next era of information technology (1970's & 
1980's), programs which were earlier available free of cost were sold at a price through 
licensing. During mid and early 1980's open source and hardware integrated software 
emerged. Similar trend was visible in system software market, especially in the operating 
system software market. Over a period of time Microsoft operating system emerged as one of 
the dominant players in the market. However, in the recent past Microsoft has considerably 
lost its market share in operating system products from 94.38% in June 2007 to 84% in May 
2014. This paper captures the trend in operating system software market and analyses 
customers' preference to switch over from the current operating system.  The trend in the 
market was analyzed through secondary data on market share and the customer preference 
to switch over was captured through a survey of engineers at various multinational IT firms 
in Bangalore. The study identified that the current trend could be moving towards open source 
or hardware integrated operating system from proprietary operating software. The survey identified 
that higher percentage of users preferred to switch over from the current operating system on desktops, 
laptops and workstations to either open source or hardware integrated operating system except 
servers.