The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy stumbled onto a stunning trend in the Linux market today. Ask Zimbra to name the most popular platforms for its open source email software, and the company provides a surprising reply.

Sure, Zimbra is most often installed on Red Hat Linux. Now for the surprise: The VAR Guy assumed Novell SuSE Linux is the No. 2 platform for Zimbra downloads. He was wrong. Ubuntu Linux and Apple MacOS–yes, MacOS–both outpace Novell as target platforms for Zimbra downloads, Zimbra officials tell The VAR Guy.

Still, download trends can be misleading, Zimbra concedes. Many of the downloads likely target personal MacOS notebooks or desktops, where users test the email code before redeploying it on Linux servers. But that doesn’t explain why tiny (and fast-growing) Ubuntu also is beating Novell SuSE Linux in the land of Zimbra email.

Zimbra says it has a “friendly, supportive” relationship with Novell. Perhaps. But Zimbra’s customers apparently prefer Red Hat, Ubuntu and Apple.