Is Apple Killing Linux on the Desktop?

Domains May Disappear writes "Chris Howard has an interesting commentary at Apple Matters on recent trends in OS market share that says that while OS X has seen continual growth, from 4.21% in Jan 2006 to 7.31% in December 2007 at the same time, Linux's percentage has risen from only 0.29% to 0.63%. The reasons? 'Apple has Microsoft Office, Linux doesn't; Apple has Adobe Creative Suite, Linux doesn't; Apple has easily accessed and easy to use service and support, Linux doesn't; Apple is driven by someone who has some understanding of end-user needs, Linux is not,' says Howard. 'Early in the decade it seemed that if you wanted a Windows alternative, Linux was it. Nowadays, an Apple Mac is undoubtedly the alternative and, with its resurgence and its Intel base, a very viable one.'"

Comments

This is false.

[Mahjub Sa'aden]

I keep hearing this, and I wonder how grounded in reality the comment is.

All I can contribute is that I was laptop shopping today, and out of curiosity I looked at PC vs Mac prices. As far as I can tell, Mac laptops are + $600 or so for the same spec laptop.

If you're willing to pay extra for the Apple experience or whatever, fine, that's cool. But let's not pretend Macs are at price parity when they're not. Nothing Apple sells is at price parity with comparable products from other vendors.