Server operating systems
Usage of operating systems for websites 2026.
Usage share of server operating systems for web servers only (not all servers/mainframes).
"Unix" family includes Linux.
Same chart in 2022.
Microsoft Windows has declined for web servers.
OS usage share on all servers (not just web servers) 2024.
From Command Linux.
Linux has 45 percent.
Windows Server has 35 percent.
"Others" would include Unix.
Would have to dig into these surveys, check the methodology,
check whether these refer to actual servers running, or machines sold that are potential servers.
List of server operating systems
Server world has always been more diverse. Why?
- UNIX
/ Linux
(an incredibly complex family tree)
- Windows Server.
Launched 1993.
- IBM operating systems:
- VM
(or VM/CMS).
Part of a complex family tree of operating systems.
Since 1972.
- z/OS.
Since 2001.
Has a family tree going back to 1974.
Unrelated to the VM family tree.
IBM made a lot of mainframes!
- VMS.
Originally VAX/VMS
from DEC in 1977.
Now OpenVMS, supported by VMS Software Inc.
Microsoft Azure
Shows how Microsoft itself is promoting non-Windows servers.
- Microsoft Azure
is Microsoft's cloud computing service.
- It has grown to become Microsoft's biggest single source of income. (Considerably bigger than consumer Windows.)
- Servers run Linux and Windows.
- Microsoft
as at 2026 says Linux is more common:
"More than 60% of customer cores in Azure run Linux workloads."
Supercomputers
