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By Matthew Broersma
Posted on ZDNet News: Jan 12, 2004 9:28:00 PM

Apache grew far more rapidly in 2003 than its nearest rival, Microsoft's Internet Information Services, according to a new survey--meaning that the open-source software remains by far the most widely used Web server on the Internet.

Netcraft, a U.K. Web services company, found that the number of sites that use Apache to send out Web pages rose from about 22 million sites (out of a total of about 35 million) in January 2003 to about 31 million (out of about 46 million) in January 2004--an increase of about 40 percent. In the same period, IIS remained roughly flat, declining from 9,739,069 to 9,675,504.


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Apache's market share grew from about 62 percent to about 67 percent, while that of IIS dropped from 27 percent to 21 percent.

The figures represent a consistent trend, according to Netcraft director Mike Prettejohn, who said Apache has grown more quickly than its competitors for several years.

"Apache has done well, because it is very stable, its security record is very good, it is reasonably straightforward to administer--and it is free," Prettejohn said, though he said cost was not a dominant factor in Apache's success.

In a related trend last year, several large domain-hosting companies--which host millions of inactive, or "parked," domain names--switched from IIS to other systems. Register.com used Apache before switching to IIS, and in 2003, the company switched back to Apache. Likewise, Network Solutions switched from IIS back to Sun Microsystems software. Network Solutions' move alone resulted in a jump in Sun's market share last year, but this share remains small, at about 3 percent.

The overall figures don't reflect an important fact: Microsoft's strength in the market for Secure Sockets Layer servers, which are commonly used by e-commerce providers. Netcraft's survey found that Microsoft powers about 49 percent of SSL servers. It is followed by Apache, with about 36 percent, and Sun, with about 3.5 percent.

Microsoft has kept about 50 percent of the SSL market since 1996 or before, Prettejohn said, but the remaining half of the market has been shifting in Apache's favor.

Matthew Broersma of ZDNet UK reported from London.

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  • Most Recent of 121 Talkback(s)
i HOPE someone already mentioned this...
but just in case, did you see what companies are listed? that hardly qaulifies as IIS leading in e-comerce. i hardly consider AMD to be an e-comerce company. if you want to make that statement, the... (Read the rest)
Posted by: ryusen Posted on: 01/14/04 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
DUH  GRindinAxTaRupy | 01/12/04
Depends on who's stats you are reading.  linusconcepcion@... | 01/12/04
Sorry but...  NemesisNL | 01/13/04
And there is more  Mack DaNife | 01/13/04
I Agree ....  coffeenite | 01/13/04
in the end.. it's all just statistics..  linusconcepcion@... | 01/12/04
No, these are exact numbers of servers and what they are running.  DonnieBoy | 01/12/04
That must be why....  MarcB_z | 01/12/04
That is why  Doug@... | 01/12/04
Linux thieves?  IT_User | 01/12/04
Wow...  Martin Marvinski | 01/12/04
YEAH!  Yen_z | 01/12/04
Thieves?  slartibartfast_z | 01/12/04
Yes, thieves  Yagotta B. Kidding | 01/13/04
NT:What was reasonable about that voice??  Mack DaNife | 01/13/04
Biased study, unscientific methods  Mike Cox | 01/12/04
In other news..  Mike Cox | 01/12/04
Ever consuming bandwidth .net technology  nucrash | 01/13/04
No Mike - don't leave!  IT_User | 01/12/04
Microsoft Visual C# .net uses IIS but not Apache!  GraysonPeddie | 01/12/04
Very few are stupid enough to use C#.  DonnieBoy | 01/12/04
That said by someone who probably  d_jedi | 01/12/04
I use C# and VB.Net, and Java too.  coffeenite | 01/13/04
RE: Biased study, unscientific methods  betelgeuse68 | 01/12/04
Give him a break  slopoke | 01/12/04
are you crazy?  RedHat9User | 01/13/04
Trolling are we Mike?  ron@... | 01/12/04
Huh?  openMind | 01/13/04
Mike Cox is in the Linux Camp  ShadeTree | 01/13/04
You have to love it when he posts  nucrash | 01/13/04
Re: Biased study, unscientific methods  mbratch | 01/13/04
Biased and Unscientific - hmm sounds like M$ marketing claims....  jwaggoner | 01/13/04
My contribution to the firestorm I'm sure will follow.  Yen_z | 01/12/04
Good one!  IT_User | 01/12/04
I'll report myself.  Yen_z | 01/12/04
No, this is serious  IT_User | 01/12/04
more strenuous action  Chris Moller | 01/13/04
To the editor  Richard Flude | 01/12/04
And also worth mentioning in the story...  Richard Flude | 01/13/04
The pain at Microsoft.  DonnieBoy | 01/12/04
But how many of those Apache sites are enterprise sites?  linusconcepcion@... | 01/12/04
Look more closely...  emartin_z | 01/12/04
you are right.  linusconcepcion@... | 01/12/04
agenda?  dwest_z | 01/13/04
Look at the sites.  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
Almost all of the big sites are using Apache.  DonnieBoy | 01/12/04
Not what is getting reported....  quietLee | 01/13/04
BarnesandNobel?  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
Google, Weather, and Orbitz big enough. There are more.  Taz_z | 01/13/04
Why do I care about Port 80?  Mack DaNife | 01/13/04
Questioning market share?  openMind | 01/13/04
Would you consider MS a "hobbyist"?  coffeenite | 01/13/04
Get over it  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Mass exodus?  pschroeder@... | 01/12/04
It is so embarassing telling people you work at Microsoft.  DonnieBoy | 01/12/04
Right  pschroeder@... | 01/12/04
Out of curiosity...  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
Don't forget "guys" at SCO  Taz_z | 01/13/04
1  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
One last thought  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
That's now always true ...  coffeenite | 01/13/04
Not last  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Where's the thought?  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
here  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Don't take it personally.  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
not taking it personally  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Don't forget the full time patch administrators  Taz_z | 01/13/04
Never met one of those...  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
YOu must have some very dumb administrators.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 01/13/04
Only one part time. We use JBoss. It's Nimda-proof.  Taz_z | 01/13/04
As dumb as Bit?  No_Ax_Has_No_Clue | 01/13/04
Who says Linux developers don't get paid?  MarcB_z | 01/12/04
Don't get paid?  IT_User | 01/12/04
What?  Yen_z | 01/12/04
To all: read the original post  pschroeder@... | 01/12/04
Overheaduncompensated  IT_User | 01/13/04
overhead  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
where will they all go?  NemesisNL | 01/13/04
where will they all go?  NemesisNL | 01/13/04
Re: Mass exodus?  mbratch | 01/13/04
read it again  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Best Paid?  rpmyers1 | 01/13/04
What does this tell us?  d_jedi | 01/12/04
Flawed, Flawed, Flawed  Mack DaNife | 01/13/04
It tells us how ignorant you are.  Taz_z | 01/13/04
You must work in marketing  Chad_z | 01/13/04
Interesting statistic  John CarrollZDNet Moderator | 01/13/04
Hmm  NemesisNL | 01/13/04
???!!  Mack DaNife | 01/13/04
IIS in the enterprise?  IT_User | 01/13/04
It's Simple Folks!!!  chrichton99 | 01/13/04
So how come nobody's doing that? (NT)  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
An interesting notion of simple  IT_User | 01/13/04
Oh! I get it now.  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
Nonsense  NemesisNL | 01/14/04
Aw, come on John  Taz_z | 01/13/04
It helps if you call a Web server a "Web server"  KSchaefer | 01/13/04
Hormel Foods  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
"Internet Information Services"  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Free?  rpmyers1 | 01/13/04
BOTH products are free???  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
IIS is *NOT* free  Robert Crocker | 01/13/04
More interesting statistics  Richard Flude | 01/13/04
Re: Interesting statistic  Mark Miller | 01/14/04
i HOPE someone already mentioned this...  ryusen | 01/14/04
Interesting  No_Ax_to_Grind | 01/13/04
Hobby websites  mrlinux | 01/13/04
Can't you offer anything else?  John Dulles | 01/13/04
How about these? They are pretty damn big.  Taz_z | 01/13/04
Don't forget the US Army  MarcB_z | 01/13/04
I don't think the department of defense has ever used IIS...  KSchaefer | 01/13/04
He's talking about www.army.com.  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
Not exactly.  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
And don't forget about Microsoft Too  coffeenite | 01/13/04
The Register??? Buwahahahaha  No_Ax_to_Grind | 01/13/04
Are you refuting their story?  Immanuel Tranz-Mischen | 01/13/04
Get over it already  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
My favorite quote from that article  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
Alternatively  pschroeder@... | 01/13/04
I never denied this  Taz_z | 01/13/04
apache is great  JWatson77 | 01/13/04

What do you think?

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