Filed under: News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux
Windows market share reaches new low - 89.6%
by Brad Linder Dec 2nd 2008
But the truth of the matter is that Microsoft is the dominant company when it comes to consumer oriented computers. In fact, according to Net Applications, a company that tracks these things, Microsoft had more than 90% of the market share. Until last month, anyway.
In November, 2008, Microsoft's market share dipped to 89.62%. Which is to say, Microsoft's Windows operating systems still dwarf the nearest competitors, Mac OS X and Linux. But a slightly smaller percentage of people who visited web sites tracked by Net Applications in November were using the operating system.
Net Applications reports that OS X has also seen a slight jump in usage, and that Windows Vista use is up while Windows XP use is down. More than 20% of computer users were running Windows Vista for the first time in November.
[via Computer World and Slashdot]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DeoWulf said 5:27PM on 12-02-2008
The headline was spaced oddly in my browser and I read that as negative 89.6%. I need more sleep.
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West said 7:42AM on 12-03-2008
Those are just dashes. No need to panic.
kevjohn said 1:57PM on 12-03-2008
I read that the same way. I think that's why God invented colons, not just for smileys. :-)
Nic said 5:27PM on 12-02-2008
Now we just need statistics on what the percentage of windows users have legitamate keys :-). So far my Ubunutu experience has been really good.
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Geir said 6:12PM on 12-02-2008
If you count the OSes in the computers used by consumers, I think Symbian would rule them all....or at least even the field a bit....depending on how you define computer of course....
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mko said 7:21PM on 12-02-2008
SunOS? I think it was called Solaris for sometime now.
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alex1jam said 7:21PM on 12-02-2008
This is good for diversity and advances in technology. Im a mac user going to Ubuntu now when my computer arrives tomorrow. I love mac and Ubuntu yea in 2 years im going to buy a mac again when i get my first job. Eventually all OS are going to be about the same so open source is the way to go because they do all of what MAC and "windum" do so yea the only thing you need in Ubuntu to work at its best is internet connection since you need the drives to be downloaded since they dont come with the OS.
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Daren said 7:33PM on 12-02-2008
Data seems flawed... where is windows mobile? if your going to include iphone, why not... also, what the hell is PlayStation doing there?
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El Taco said 7:43PM on 12-02-2008
agreed. definitely seems biased.
sidewinder12s said 8:34PM on 12-02-2008
I think they did that because you can use the Playstation OS for a lot of things, also all of the scientific stuff. maybe just because the playstation 3 has a full browser.....
Daren said 1:57PM on 12-03-2008
still doesn't answer why the didnt count windows mobile, one of the largest mobile market share holders. Also, the numbers for the PS OS is flawed. Read the article.
Generic said 2:16PM on 12-03-2008
@Daren
Thanks Daren for the comments, I completely agree. And if the mobile platforms are considered, what about Nokia S40/S60. I hate it when the iPhone gets shoved into every single computing issue. What's next? iPhone server racks!?
Daren said 4:58PM on 12-03-2008
@Generic
I completely agree. Symbian would take up a huge market share. Also, if all these OS's are considered- has there really been a drop in Windows Market share? Compared to what? Usually discussing (and in this case comparing) marketshare of windows, its usually just conventional OS's in the poll. IE: Windows, Mac, Linux
Overstressed Admin said 10:01PM on 12-02-2008
As someone who uses the Market Share site to keep up on brower share developments, I find their data useful and relevant, but the above percentage is a bit misleading - it is the percentage of computers on the web. It doesn't take into consideration Windows embedded devices, etc. I don't think Microsoft is hurting too much.
The really interesting numbers are in the breakdown of the OSes: Vista is now at 20% and climbing a point a month. Mac/Intel is climbing steadily, having its first half-point gain last month. The browser side is even more interesting: 1/5 of the computers now use Firefox. That's an amazing share and shows how a good product will gain traction via word-of-mouth. Opera continues to be marginalized and needs to revamp itself if it wants to grow. Chrome has passed Opera in just a few short months thank to the Google cachet drawing in people to give it a try.
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hazard said 10:06PM on 12-02-2008
"We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers."
Not a particularly accurate representation of market share. I'm guessing that most of these "customers" attract a mostly North American crowd.
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Sonic said 7:42AM on 12-03-2008
Also, the data is flawed because it cannot separate between computers which are running multiple Operating Systems.
Other Flaws:
1) Doesn't support all mobile OS's (WinMo/Symbian/RIM) as they would probably account for more than the iPhone.
2) Doesn't state the number of users mentioned, which throws the data off. Linux data jumped from 0.91% to %0.71 percent in one month.
3) Playstation/iPhone normally aren't considered as Operating Systems.
etc.
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shaunisadirty said 12:47PM on 12-05-2008
This is a complete waste of time. You cannot compare iphone and playstation to real operating systems such as windows and osx. Yeah I have an iphone, but like most people who do, I also solely use Windows. Everyone knows that if Apple takes Windows support away from iPhone and iPod that they are back to where they started. I would project that Windows still has a more than 90% market share and that whoever did this just wants to try and create some major breakthrough headline - when it clearly does not exist.
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Ex-windozer said 7:20AM on 12-29-2008
It is funny to notice that people tend to love organizations that they are so used to, even if they are pretty well informed that those organizations steal their money, can't provide them the basic security or fully operational set of products they need - at least not for free.
Ignorance as a form of stupidity creates the basis of all low moral activity. Very well, I'd rather like to have my choise of freedom which means good security, free programs working like a charm. Of course, personally I don't benefit at all if people decide to change their OS's but surely it would be great if they realise they could have a fully operational system out of the box - for free.
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