Red Hat’s Linux Domination Weakens
R. Krause - September 13, 2000

Event Summary

According to recently figures from IDC, Red Hat was still the #1 distributor of the Linux operating system in 1999 by a wide margin, with a 48% share of the copies shipped. Trailing Red Hat were German vendor SuSE with a 15% share, and Caldera Systems and TurboLinux with 10% each. (See Figure 1) Bringing up the rear were MandrakeSoft (4%) and Corel (1%).Figure 1. A potential area of concern for Red Hat is the sales growth of its next three competitors. From 1998 to 1999, the Linux market overall grew by 89% (by units shipped), but Red Hat grew 'only' 69%. This is in sharp contrast to the growth of SuSE (175%), Caldera (175%), and TurboLinux (450%). (See Figure 2). In addition, July, 2000 retail sales figures (as compiled by PC Data) indicate MandrakeSoft (~32%), Red Hat (25%) and Corel (23%) have grabbed a significant portion of that segment. [Be advised that market share for Linux includes more distribution methods than retail.] Figure 2. Market Impact..