Does System76 revenue prove Linux growth trend?

Open source hardware manufacturer System76 has reported bumper financial results, leading many to question whether the non-proprietary route is the best way out of current economic gloom.

The company, which uses the Linux-based Ubuntu in all of its products, reported a 61 per cent increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

As a privately held company System76 does not have to disclose its net income or profit margins so it is hard to determine the specific amount that the company has made.

Last month, a report by Novell suggested the recession is driving an increase in the use of Linux in businesses. So is this trend set to continue?

Perhaps so, according to Rene Millman, a senior analyst at Gartner. "More and more companies are definitely looking at using Linux within the enterprise," he said. "The reason being not just about it being free' but also the maintenance and support costs of Linux-based vendors are slightly lower too."

"Couple this with contracts that are less onerous on the customer and you have compelling reasons as to why organisations are considering the move over to open source."

Later this month, the new Ubuntu 9.04 OS will be released and System76 will be offering the OS on its desktops, laptops and servers.