The Linux community is questioning research that suggests the open-source operating system is losing market share to Windows on preinstalled x86 servers, saying that Linux is undercounted in those kinds of studies.

An analysis of IDC Quarterly Server Tracker figures for the past six quarters showed that Linux growth started to falter and reverse its positive course relative to both Windows Server and the market as a whole over that period.

The annual rate at which Linux was growing in the x86 server space fell to a negative 4 percent growth in calendar year 2006, while Windows Server outpaced the total growth rate in that market by more than 4 percent in 2006, the figures showed.

But some, like Amanda McPherson, marketing director for the Linux Foundation in San Francisco, said it is impossible to count all of the Linux servers in the market today.

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