Gartner says open-source operating systems—Linux in particular—have caught up to their fee-based counterparts, but a new report predicts costs will rise as well. 

Long considered the poor cousins of feature-rich, fee-based operating systems, open source in the server operating system market­—notably, Linux—is now a virtual equal to commercial alternatives. Unfortunately, as go features, so goes price, and a new report from Gartner predicts that costs will rise as configurations and administration gets more involved. 

According to Gartner's recent report, "Open-Source Software in the Server OS Market 2008: The State of Linux," the improvements are striking. In the Linux world, the report finds, improvements to the kernel have resolved most scalability issues, making it a good option for x86 servers of eight cores, with the capability for 16 cores on four-socket quad core systems. The improvements are so great, the report notes, that by the end of 2009, Linux enterprise versions from Red Hat and Novell will be running neck and neck with Unix and Windows in terms of performance on most applications.

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