Santa Cruz, CA — (press release excerpt) — The People's Republic of China is emerging as one of the world's Open Source Linux operating system strongholds, according to a new report compiled from in-depth interviews with more than 1,000 Chinese software developers. The Evans Data Corp. 2002 Chinese Developer Survey, Vol. 2, released this week, found that two-thirds of Chinese developers (65%) expect to write an application for Linux in the next year, and close to half (44%) have already done so.

The research, completed last month, revealed that intentions to use Linux as a primary host OS next year are expected to increase by 175%. About one in eight Chinese developers say their primary OS target next year will be Linux. (11% of Chinese developers intend to use Linux as a primary host OS next year, compared to 4% using it now. About one in eight Chinese developers say their primary OS target next year will be Linux.)

China is one of several Asian nations, including India, actively promoting Linux, citing cost benefits and security advantages which may help to explain part of its rising popularity.

“Our research suggests that a significant shift in operating systems may be underway in China, possibly as a response to the urging of the government to adopt Linux,” commented Evans Data analyst Esther Schindler. “However, while Windows use has declined from the last Chinese survey, the developers are not automatically switching to Linux — many are adopting Java virtual machines as a native development environment and as the target OS on which they expect their applications to run. Ten percent of Chinese developers say their primary host OS will be a JVM next year.”

Among other key survey findings . . .

• Half of Chinese developers (49%) say that their company has experienced a network or security breach in the last year. The most common type of breach (33%) was a deliberate hack into a company database. Viruses are close behind, at 30% of responses.
• Growth in 64-bit application continues with 13% of respondents currently writing new applications or porting existing applications to 64-but architecture, up from 8% six months ago. Nearly half of Chinese developers (48%) expect to begin writing new applications or porting existing ones to a 64-bit architecture in the next year.
• Chinese developers tend to work in small shops. Only 16% are employed by companies with more than 1,000 employees, compared to a quarter of North American developers. Among other key differences is the Chinese developers' relative lack of experience. Nearly 98% of them have less than ten years of experience programming and the average is under four years.

The Chinese Developer Survey series addresses a broad range of concerns, issues and attitudes of developers working in China. The contents of the survey include: Platform Use and Migrations, Language Usage, Security, Linux, Java, General Internet Development, Tools and Development Issues. The survey also includes numerous cross tabulations of data across different questions such as company size and region. An Overview, Table of Contents and Sample Pages from the 2002 Chinese Software Development Survey Vol. 2 can be seen here.

 
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