Linux use was reported in 53% of the 500 North American companies surveyed by SG Cowen & Co, TechWeb reports. 7% of the respondents planned to adopt Linux, which was the “most modest” level the company had seen in its survey. The combined use or planned adoption of Linux at 60% was the lowest level since September 2003, when the number was 56%, including 44% having adopted Linux and 12% planning to use the open-source operating system. There was a 10% drop from September 2004, when Cowen reported 56% of companies having adopted Linux and 14% planning to deploy the operating system. 52% of companies planned to increase workloads on Windows servers, versus 7% planning a reduction. For Linux, those numbers were 50% and 10%, respectively.