Developer Demographics Favor Linux, Dynamic Languages

CNET has an interesting piece based on some Forrester research. It’s a brief article so I won’t rehash the whole thing here, but the conclusion is that as developer shops turn over and younger developers move in .NET and Java use will wane and dynamic languages like PHP, Ruby, and Python will supplant them. In addition, Forrester predicts Linux will become a more commonly preferred choice for enterprise software deployments.

My general rule of thumb is that all think-tank predictions are head-slappingly stupid unless I agree with them, which is the case here. A particularly interesting bit:

Interest in open source is no longer simply about "cheap software." In Forrester surveys conducted in 2008 and 2010, Hammond said, there has been a significant shift away from reduced cost as the overwhelming reason for choosing open source, with a 83 percent of IT executives citing "Improve business process execution speed" and 81 percent saying "Support company growth" as the big reasons for open-source adoption.