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Mac Install-Base Shown to Be 16%

Posted by Zonk on from the thats-a-lot-of-fruit dept.

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.)"

3 of 717 comments (clear)

  1. further info about google's zeitgeist OS numbers by quinxy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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).

    --
    Don't vote for Eugene Papansanovich for Congress!
  2. Re:Inaccurate by October_30th · · Score: 4, Interesting
    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.

    --
    The owls are not what they seem
  3. BOINC says it's much lower. by Renegade+Lisp · · Score: 4, Interesting
    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.