Mac Install-Base Shown to Be 16%

Kelly McNeill writes "MacDailyNews has an editorial which summarizes reports from various research groups that analyzed the number of computer users affected by viruses. The conclusion was that 16 percent of all computer users are not affected by viruses because they use Macs. The lack of viruses on a Mac is commonly known, but the interesting thing is the fact that the results finally provide the first set of conclusive numbers which illustrate the Macintosh's install-base. So far only "market-share" statistics are commonly published for the public and do not convey install base. (If for example 2 people are using computers and one replaces his 2x in a 3 year period and the other only does once, market-share dynamics dictate that one demographic has 75% market share while the other has only 25% -- even though install base is still 50/50.)"

Comments

further info about google's zeitgeist OS numbers

[quinxy]

An interesting related article and discussion on interpreting Google's zeitgeist OS numbers. And what it might mean for % usage of OS (which for Mac ends up being the 3-6% people usually speak of, 3% from Google's direct number and another 3% from Google 'Other' OS).

Re:Inaccurate

[October_30th]

People may buy a Mac, then install Linux or *BSD onto it.

That's something I've never understood.

Mac hardware's nothing special - it's primarily the software that makes Macs so great in comparison to a typical Windows/Linux/BSD PC. Why the heck would anyone buy a Mac and then install a Linux on it? Just doesn't make sense.

BOINC says it's much lower.

[Renegade Lisp]

It's impossible to get the one true metric for this. But the statistics of the BOINC project (formerly SETI@home, now includes other projects as well) give another, perhaps more reasonable data point.

They have

• Windows -- 89.5%
• Linux -- 7.8%
• Darwin -- 2.3%
• Other -- 0.4%

Now, this data is obviously skewed with respect to the total distribution, since the people who run something like SETI@home are probably more technologically inclined than the average computer user. This would mean that the percentage of non-Windows OSes is higher in this sample. On the other hand, the software for BOINC (SETI@home) is still somewhat Windows-centric, which would in turn increase the Windows share in the sample.

An interesting data point, nonetheless.

Re:a questionable basis for a percentage

[dj245]

The browser's "user agent" header sent to a general interest site like Google would seem a far better way.

I run a website that gets a lot of hits due to information links carried on bittorrent sites. I see a startling high percentage of firefox, linux, and various unixes. I therefore conclude that Bittorrent is at this time not for the average idiot, although it is getting more that way every day.

Now google, on the other hand, is not completely without bias. The people in my family who are very clueless about the internet do not use google, they use the default MSN search that comes with Internet Exploder. This is a big deal I think. Lots of people who are clueless use these default searches, not to mention people whose browser has been hyjacked and must use the hyjacked search site. Those people are not (and won't be) running linux, firefox, or unixes.

So I think to really get some meaningful stats about installed bases for Firefox, Opera, Linux, and the like, we must survey lots of sites (1000's) from all manner of target demographics. Any other method of statistical analysis would have some bias.

Re:Why this preoccupation with 'bias'?

[v1]

The black powerbooks are arguably the most upgradeable laptops ever built. The wallstreet, with its dual cardbus bays and dual media bays, was exceptional. I ugpraded mine to a g3/500 which not only increased CPU speed by 66% but also almost doubled battery life. A CD burner was another nice ugprade for it. (I think they have superdrives for them now?) I don't know if the G4 upgrade works with the wallstreet, but I've recently seen a "G4 pismo", upgraded something like this:

http://www.geekculture.com/blurbs/reviews/XLR8G4Pi smo.html

Not only is that G4/550, but check out the memory. It's not a new laptop, but it's still not too shabby.

Upgrading a PC, you usually replace the CPU, the logic board, power supply, memory, and the optical drive. That means you're keeping... the case? heh, what's the point?