Dominant platforms (hardware/software)

Description

The market for operating systems and computer processors is structured as an oligopoly. A handfull of companies produce the processors and operating systems, that is the platform, that most of the people use today.

Microsoft is the big player in the market of operating systems with its Windows series, holding a share of more than 90% of the market for desktop systems. In the server market, however, linux distributions manage to get a more significant share of a bit over 12% of the overall market.

In the processors market, Intel dominates the overall market with an 80% share. The x86 architecture prevails in the market for desktop processors, especially now that Apple has adopted the architecure, while in the server market it holds a share of around 80%.

The result of having dominant hardware/software platforms is that these platforms are easily available and widely used around the world. This means that rival countries may be using the same platform for some of their services. Taking into account the fact that in most cases the operating systems used are closed source, there are some interesting implications.

The discovery of a security vulnerability or exploit by a party (e.g. the security agency of a government) presents the opportunity to use it as means of cyber-attack against another party that uses the same platform, if the need arises. Since the operating system is closed source, only the company that has produced it can fix the exploit, but then the party that has discovered it would lose the advantage that it has. So, in order to be able to use an exploit as a cyber-weapon, it has to be vulnerable to it as well.

Open source software resolves this problem because it offers the possibility to easily check for security issues and fix them.

Enablers

1. Oligopoly in the operating systems and hardware market: The structure of the market and the characteristics of the industry allow only for a small number of companies to provide the hardware and operating systems required worldwide.
   
2. The need for interconnectivity: The big players in the market usually have the practice of having closed standards that don't allow easy communication with other platforms. So consumers, in order to achieve connectivity, are forced to choose the platform that has the largest market share, essentially making it even larger.

Inhibitors

1. Open source software: In open source operating systems the source code is available to anybody wanting to modify it and adjust it better to his needs. This has led to a large variety of Linux-based operating systems, e.g. the SE Linux developed by the National Security Agency (NSA), which is a linux distribution with enhanced security features.
2. Anti-trust regulations: Under the 2004 ruling of the case of EU against Microsoft, Microsoft was told to provide rival firms with more information about its software, in order to enable them to write programs that could run more smoothly on Microsoft's widely-used Windows operating system.

Web Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_desktop_operating_systems
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5369154346.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6108453.html
http://www.news.com/Intels-market-share-rises-on-AMDs-problems/2100-1006_3-6178921.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=14086&tag=rbxccnbzd1
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/windows_servers/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170100570
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Microsoft_competition_case
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5171126.stm