Surveys find Microsoft's IIS succeeding over Apache

Surveys by two research firms, NetCraft and Port80 Software, found that Microsoft’s Internet Information Server was fast gaining over the open source Apache Server.

An excerpt from ComputerWorld New Zealand:

“While NetCraft’s recent surveys demonstrate the rise of Microsoft’s Internet Information Services across the Internet at large, Port80 Software continues to see IIS beating Apache among leading U.S. enterprise companies,” says Joseph Lima, Director of Product Development at Port80 Software.

A few pointers from the article are presented below:

• Microsoft grew to 36.2% of all active Web sites, while Apache lost nearly a million Web site names, as its share of active Web sites fell to 48.4%
• IIS 4, 5, 6, and 7 deployments continue a four-year lead in the survey with a combined 55% share of all Fortune 1000 corporate sites, versus Apache’s 24.9% share

The survey by Port80 software also found that Microsoft’s ASP.NET and ASP Application Servers are currently used in 51.5% of Fortune 1000 sites. That is attributed to the cumulative advantage of the dominance of Microsoft IIS.

An insightful article by Robin Bloor at Channel Register points to why the statistics of dominance of Microsoft should not be taken as a sign of the waning of open source. Case in point being that open-source software encourages a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) approach, which cannot be all covered in a market survey. However, the question remains whether open source will ever capture major market share over proprietary competition.