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Windows Drops Below 90% Market Share
ozmanjusri writes "Online market share of the dominant Windows operating system has taken its biggest monthly fall in years to drop below 90%, according to Net Applications Inc. Computerworld reports that Microsoft's flagship product has been steadily losing ground to Mac OS X and Linux, and is at its lowest ebb in the market since 1995. 'Mac OS X... [ended] the month at 8.9%. November was the third month running that Apple's operating system remained above 8%.' The stats show that while some customers are 'upgrading' from XP to Vista, many are jumping ship to Apple, while Linux is also steadily gaining ground. A Net Applications executive suggests the slide may be caused by many of the same factors that caused the fall in Internet Explorer use. 'The more home users who are online, using Macs and Firefox and Safari, the more those shares go up,' he said. November has more weekend days, as well Thanksgiving in the US, a result that emphasizes the importance of corporate sales to Microsoft."
Dead, dead, dead. Give up hope now.
This is good news. It surely means the year of the Linux Desktop is impending.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
the year of... windows not on the desktop!
And I get modded flamebait for pointing out earlier today that Apple is gaining market share? It's true. Apple is gaining ground. Of course, it probably doesn't help MS that Vista isn't exactly setting the world on fire.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
GNU/Linux less than 2%? I don't think so. EEE PC has sold more than 4 million, most of them GNU/Linux, and that makes about 0.5% of the world market on it's own. My SWAG is that there's about 10 GNU/Linux desktops for every EEE PC sold.
The only thing interesting here is the Wintel press conceding declines. The loss of market share thanks to Vista and GNU/Linux improvements is undeniable.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
OMG! Micro$oft is about ready to go under!!!! There's going to be huge consequences for our economy!!!! Send Steve Ballmer to DC in his private jet to throw some chairs around and get us $25 billion immediately!!!!
"The more home users who are online, using Macs and Firefox and Safari, the more those shares go up,"
Let me get this straight...if more people use a browser, then there are more people using that browser? Brilliant!
Nothing more to say.
slashwhat?
Just curious, but at what point is Microsoft no longer considered a monopoloy? At what percentage are they legally allowed to start pulling the dirty tricks again?
Did it just get colder in hell??
This is year for Linux Desktop. Hurray!!!
Question: While they're still dominant, would the rapidly decreasing market-share mean that MS will have a better chance of avoiding any monopoly-related issues/charges (or would this only be applicable if their marketshare dropped below XX%)?
In November, 89.6% of users who connected to the Web sites that Net Applications Inc. monitors [...]
It's been below 90% in terms of IP addresses for quite some time. Not a lot of websurfing is done on servers, cluster nodes, or routers.
Linux user's obesity rate goes above 90%.
Chance this post gets -1 rises to 100%.
So 2008 must be the Year of the Linux Desktop !
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
I did not RTFA, Is is just the US Market or euro included?
89% market share ought to be enough for anybody.
There's the general opinion of Vista's unsuitability, the rise in Macs, the netbook phenomenon, the economic downturn slowing hardware turnover, all leading to fewer Windows boxes out there. The question is whether MS has any chance of reclaiming them with their even-fatter Windows 7, or accelerate the downturn.
Now if some Large Visible Company decided to jump off the Microsoft Upgrade Treadmill in favor of Some Other OS, *THAT* would be a story...
SCOX(Q) DELENDA EST!!
Microsoft is in trouble!
Next we will see commercials asking people to sponsor a Microsoft employee for as little as 10 cents a day.
You got the touch!
When people realize there are alternatives, they start to look for MORE of them. Firefox specifically is proving that one doesn't need MS to do normal activity. When no website "breaks" because one is using FF, they subtly say "wow". When they learn of new features (tabs) in IE and realize that those were available in FF long before MS got to them, they go "wow".
This would cause people to look at what they do, not what they use to do it, and see if what they need is available elsewhere.
The next big push should be OpenOffice. My kid comes in and shows me her "Powerpoint" (her words) and I know that I haven't put MS Office on her computer, then I point out that it isn't "PowerPoint" but a presentation. She realizes it isn't Microsoft Office and I now have someone who can tell her friends "I didn't use MS Office" (and she will too!).
When people realize they can surf the net (already there) and make "PowerPoints" and "Word Documents" and "Excel Spreadsheet", it will increase the options for discovering that one CAN get along quite nicely without Microsoft.
I've long said that 2007-8 is going to be the beginning of the end for MS. The writing is on the walls, it is just a matter of time before the whole thing collapses.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Goliath has just felt the stone impact his cranium.
The year of the linux desktop looms.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Linux seems to have completely failed to capitalize on Vistas unpopularity, still having less than 1% market share.
This is a LIE! Vista is the best selling OS EVER! These people's numbers are all screwed up! http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com/
These type of stats always ignore the bulk of Linux devices. There are more than 300 million Linux devices sold every year. The total number of Linux devices outnumbers everything else by a wide margin.
However, it is nice to know that Microsoft still supplies 100% of all Windows systems...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Not "Windows" Market Share, but specifically Vista Market share only, after all, it's their shiny new thing being forced down all of out throats.
(Yes, I mean to Exclude counting any WinVista Downgrade licenses in the %, and show the *Actual* market share % use of WinVista in PCs since the WinVista release to date.)
Those stats might be more interesting and possibly more insightful to MS losing market share to other PC OS options.
Grouping *EVERYTHING* marketed as "Windows" into one pool is not statistically transparent.
I argue that many would NOT consider WinME, Win2k, WinXP, WinVista, or even Windows Mobile to be the the same category, etc...
Hi twitter.
EEE PC has sold more than 4 million, most of them GNU/Linux
Really? I must admit I didn't know much about this but a little bit of Google reveals this interview with ASUS CEO Jerry Shen, which I think was also reported here on Slashdot (about the return rates for Linux devices, which he seems to invalidate):
Here's another article where Shen is also quoted about the ratio of XP to Linux EEE units sold, which he says is 60:40:
So obviously you're just making that up. Nothing like bogus facts and words like "laughable" and "undeniable" to get on moderators' good graces, eh?
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Microsoft is steadily loosing ground... Okay, that's cool. It'd be nice to put them off their high horses. However, Microsoft has made a lot of mistakes in recent years (Vista being a huge one!) The thing about Microsoft is they have the money to do just about anything they want... So... Windows 7 is already shaping up to be a goody (I've already tried the Pre-beta m3, and although they're still using the Vista bones in the early versions, it's already gettin there)... And all other mistakes... Well a few ad campaigns to the basic end user etc etc... And they'll reconvert, or keep them. (By normal end user I mean the one's that have no clue when it comes to computers except to check e-mail etc etc.) And they'll remain Cemented on top. Even if Apple and Linux gain more followers, In all honesty I can't see Microsoft dropping off the top perch. Especially when the majority of Big business infrastructure is all Microsoft Server etc... (That's a huge market right there). So, good on Apple and Linux, but lets not kid ourselves people.
01001001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01001111 01101100 01101001 01110110 01100101 01110011
I suspect a large amount of XP users are not upgrading to Vista, so I doubt that these statistics really represent market share.
Of course this makes great sense. Design and efficiency in computing are the next big thing, and MSFT seems to do lots of research but no integration.
On the other hand, Apple and others have created very nice, simple and streamlined applications that seem to be driven less by research than by practical testing and design.
Which means that, in the future, Apple and others will continue to gain ground... unless... the new windows... nah...
The story is about online market share, not market share period - they came up with these results by tracking certain websites to see the proportions of the operating systems of their visitors. As the article explains, they think Windows share dropped because there is a higher concentration of Windows PCs at work than at home, and over Thanksgiving, many people weren't at work. Notably, this study doesn't say anything about the total market share of Windows or any other operating system, as seems to be implied in the headline and most of the summary.
Competition is good and I'm all for more competition in the OS market; but Apple policies are awful and, in my opinion, the worse in the IT world. You have only one hardware manufacturer, central control for applications distribution (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/26/google_itunes//) and, in general, a restrictive environment that no geek should find interesting... We are here to break, hack and have fun, and Apple seems to think that's unacceptable.
If you complain about DRM stuff in Windows for compliance with HD standards and playing specific web content wait until Apple DRM that won't allow you to run their software on the hardware you want hits you in the face.
Disclaimer: This is the way I see things and is completely a personal opinion.
Think about how many windows desktops have been sold, over the last 5-6 years that are still being used!
Ah yes, the brisk sales that have bankrupted CompUSA, DSG, Circuit City and damaged many others. It is true that most systems shipped still go with XP, and at least 1/3 of the Vista machines get XP or GNU/Linux within a few months of use. We should all weep for the home market's lost productivity and the sadness of a seven year old operating system. Even I have to admit that a virused out XP machine is what you find in most people's home but GNU/Linux use is better than 2%.
The older computer market is a good sign for GNU/Linux. Computers older than five years old are essentially netbooks, 1GHz class machines with 1 or 2 GB of RAM and small hard drives. "Updated" XP runs poorly on those too, so the users are either GNU/Linux users or in the market for GNU/Linux or Mac. No one is buying a GNU/Linux netbook and then torturing themselves with a $200 XP install.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
why won't you people just leave Microsoft alone!!! *cries*
642 days ago I was talking with my friends about the news I was reading about Microsoft at the time and I said that in 2 years Microsoft would no longer be the leader in operating systems and possibly no longer in business. 88 days left and I'll find out if I really was just screwing around.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
Are they only counting OEMs or something? I think perhaps those numbers are a bit misleading. Statistics of this sort are rarely accurate.
The game.
"Windows' share typically falls on weekends and after work hours, as users surf from home computers, a larger percentage of which run Mac OS X than do work machines."
So, what they are saying is that people would rather use something else, and do so at home. In effect, people don't want windoze but are forced to use it at work.
Windows sucks and there's your proof.
Oh god, I hate replying to myself but I forgot to include the source of the second quote: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2008/oct/08/linux.windows
Sorry about that.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
I kind of figured this would start around the time I read about Vista's specs. DRM, bloated beyond anything. Then the more Vista was turned out, the more I can see this happening. Then when netbooks came out, and people was snapping them up like candy, and knew they couldn't possibly run Vista, I could see the other nail. Now that the economy may slip into a depression, well - now how many of us can afford their overpriced licenses, buying new systems every 2 years or so, and not to mention being locked into a 1 OS p/computer that MS does? I've just started using Kunbuntu 8.04.1, and frankly I'm on my way to tossing Win2k for good. Except for a few minor programs that has to be jerks in installing, I've installed about 80% of the programs I use, dual monitor capiblity works like a charm, and best of all. I can use *all* of my harddrives. So tell me why I need XP? Or Vista? Why should I put up with MS's bull about buying a whole new OS everytime I add or change somehting in my computer? I think a lot of people are seeing the same thing, when all we do mostly is work, (except for gamers.) It may come to the point, that Windows will be ONLY a gaming platform - much like a PS3, or so. Lets just hope that like what happened to IE after FF started to bite, they get off their lazy rumps and really do something *good* with Windows, instead of just bloating it up with useless junk. Yeah, and horses will fly too :)
- Kc
-- Kevin C. Redden kcredden@ gmail 392992
I have to wonder how much of this is related to the economy. Granted, Vista isn't exactly the greatest thing to come out of MS in the last few years, but I have to wonder if their exhorbant pricing scheme for Vista and the current economy is also a factor in poor sales and people moving to other platforms. Granted, a Mac will cost you more for the hardware, but the OS is pretty darned cheap and gives you license to put it on multiple pieces of hardware. Linux is free. Are the times hard enough where MS is driving away their customers on multiple fronts?
I just don't trust these stats (and that's not because they don't say what I want them to), from the Net Applications site:
So it's all customers from some analytics service these guys own. But what type of sites use their service? It's hard to believe these figures do not have a built-in bias due to the types of sites providing them.
By far the most popular analytics service is Google Analytics.* If Google were to produce figures like these, I'd be more inclined to believe them, as their analytics software is used on a decent cross-section of sites, including technical ones like Slashdot.
My own data -- with bias due to having a technical audience -- across two sites, says roughly: Windows 75%; Mac 9%; Linux 13% (with 3% AWStats reports as 'Unknown', and other sundry OSs like BSD, OS/2, AmigaOS, BeOS etc.) None of my sites use Net Applications' software, and get around 125,000 visitors a month.
* Sorry I haven't a citation for this, but just look at the source code of almost any site and you'll see a Javascript block from Google Analytics. Also, see this unscientific evidence.
I'm going to transform myself into a mighty hawk. Either that or I'll just go and work at Dixons, haven't decided yet.
As Microsoft continues to prepare for the 2009^W2010 launch of Windows 7, it today issued a plea through its network of objective opinion-shapers: Don't let the journalists near it.
"We understand that many journalists use Macs," said CNet marketing marketer Don Reisinger. "This means they necessarily suckle at the Satanic rear passage of Steve Jobs. We cannot countenance their bias. Journalists are responsible for all those signs outside computer shops offering to replace Vista with XP. When was the last time you saw the entire technology field stop and wait for an announcement from any other company besides Apple? It's so unfair!"
Smears and slanders also come from obsessive overweight nerdy Mac-using Linux geek troublemakers who run "benchmarks" and "tests." "It's horrifying bias from the 'reality'-based community," said ZDNet marketing marketer Mary Jo Enderle. "We understand that, just because Vista was 40% slower than XP and Windows 7 is the same speed as Vista, the nattering nabobs of negativism are already writing press releases condemning it as 'not enough of an improvement.' It's so unfair!"
"Mactards are like concentration camp guards," said Guardian marketing marketer Jack Schofield, "brutalising 'I'm A PC' users and" [This comment has been removed by a Guardian moderator. Replies may also be deleted.]
"The only reason Vista failed was because Microsoft planned for it to fail," said Reisinger in an earlier ad-banner troll post. "It was a fantastically subtle double-bluff! They did the honorable thing in the face of the vile calumnies spread by Apple. It's so unfair!"
Microsoft will be debuting Windows 7 on a new 17" Asus Eee Ultra-Portable Mini-Netbook with 8GB memory and a 2GHz quad-core processor. Battery life is up to twenty minutes in preliminary tests.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I love statistics. Every one you look at tells you a different story, even on the same subject.
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp tells me, that Windows is still above 90% (slightly) using a similar calculation method.
But the article is right in one point: Windows is continuously loosing ground, slowly. At least for the moment. The question is when does it reach a critical point at which application developers start to create their applications for more then just one dominant platform? We are not really there yet. Maybe in 5-10 years if the current tendency prevails.
At some point major software just starts to get developed in a cross-platform fashion which will also trigger better cross-platform frameworks and eventually catalyze the process, but I don't think this will happen until Windows looses another 10%.
It's basically about economy: when does the target audience on non-windows platforms reach the point at which the development for that platforms get profitable.
Don't get me wrong, I particularly hate Microsoft philosophy and products, but I still try to figure out reasonable probabilities. But I'm also no oracle, so I will just lean back in my seat and enjoy the show (misery) from my Linux box.
Please stop. Just stop. Making "funny" versions of things that are reported on Slashdot and then posting links to your blog is SPAMMING. Get it? You're a SPAMMER for doing this. Stop it. You do nothing else here on Slashdot.
The Apple section at the local Best Buy is the busiest part of the whole store. It may be completely anecdotal, but I've been using Macs since 1989 and I've NEVER seen so much mainstream interest.
Hi I'm a Mac! :D :D :D
But, it's still to early to dance a jig over ms going down to 90%. When the windoze-only apps get native counterparts in Linux AND Mac, and THESE two both/each have 12% of the market, then it's time to arrange dancing dates, and maybe warm up for the dance-a-thon.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
What?
The big application developers (That's Microsoft, Adobe and Apple) already mostly develop their apps for two platforms. Apple less than the other two, but they will keep updating itunes on Windows for a long ass time.
FOSS application developers (again, the big ones, Mozilla, Sun, etc.) generally develop for Windows, Mac and Unix-alike (Server application development is much less universal, whatever).
So sure, smaller developers might start targeting Mac and Windows, but I doubt it, as it doesn't matter all that much what $5,000 machine the $75,000 worker uses to run the $15,000 application.
Makers of niche apps and utilities fit in there somewhere, but the fraction that actually charge money is pretty small, and seems to be shrinking (i.e., free and open source solutions are increasing equivalent to for pay stuff).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Macs used to have 15% to 20% marketshare in the early 1990's. Now they have less than 10%, when they had the Mac Clones they really sold a lot of them.
If Apple allowed Mac Clones again, I am sure Macs could easily capture that 20% all over again.
Does that report count retrocomputers that run MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 and Windows 95? I know a lot of people who still do use older PC technology. Modern Linux won't run on them unless it is command line based. The old 8M and constantly swapping Windows 95 machines with a 486DX 66Mhz processor or 386SX processor at 16 Mhz.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Sector 001? Will they become a "DO-Awe-Pole-EE"?
Which will blow the wrist hairs of the other like Data did the Borg Queen?
Might be neat if Apple starts selling Vinculums with every shiny new Mac. Wait... the... Mac... IS a Vinculum, hehehehe. Their Vinculum might bring more order to the CHAOS of the windows Vinculum...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with the XBox. They paid a lot of developers to migrate to their platform from the PC, and now the PC market no longer has any compelling exclusive titles to drive it. Without compelling titles there's no reason to keep the machine current.
Part of what drove the pc market was the games arms race. Without games what do you use the pc for? Internet... I can do that with a 3 year old machine and any operating system. Why would I EVER upgrade? People are going to migrate to the cheapest safest software they can, and the open source community and apple will gladly accommodate.
Microsoft needs to start paying developers to make high graphical games for their latest operating system..
I wouldn't base anything on these statistics...except maybe that you can get /.'ed for just about anything if you say it with a convincing enough headline... Their site states, "We use a unique methodology for collecting this data. We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers." How? What method? How easily is this method blocked or circumvented? For example, can it be blocked with a browser addin like noscript or by simply turning off cookies?
There's just way too many 'unknowns' for me to put a lot of stock in this kind of info.
For me the reason for not choosing to use one of Microsoft's new Server OSs was lack of drivers. Microsoft along with hardware companies like HP, will only certify a machine for either the desktop world or the server world. I have hardware that I use for desktops that I also wanted to run a server OS, (Server 2008), on, but I could not get drivers that would allow me to run Server 2008 on a "desktop" machine.
Folks, what makes a machine a server or a desktop is the functionality that it provides, not some hardware manufacturer's marketing campaign designed to get us all to spent money on more expensive hardware then we need.
I ended up with older hardware and Linux. And it's doing it's job just fine thank you.
How is fact not the opposite of "not real or true"? Opinion is not knowledge, therefore it is not fact. "Fact" excerpted from the OED:
1. A thing done or performed.
2. The making, doing, or performing.
3. Math. = FACTUM
4. a. Something that has really occurred or is actually the case; something certainly known to be of this character; hence, a particular truth known by actual observation or authentic testimony, as opposed to what is merely inferred, or to a conjecture or fiction; a datum of experience, as distinguished from the conclusions that may be based upon it.
5. Often loosely used for: Something that is alleged to be, or conceivably might be, a âfactâ(TM).
6. a. (Without a and pl.) That which is of the nature of a fact; what has actually happened or is the case; truth attested by direct observation or authentic testimony; reality. matter of fact: a subject of discussion belonging to the domain of fact, as distinguished from matter of inference, of opinion, of law, etc.
b. in fact: in reality (cf. sense 1 and indeed). Now often used parenthetically in an epexegetical statement, or when a more comprehensive assertion is substituted for that which has just been made. in point of fact: with regard to matters of fact; also (and now usually) = in fact.
c. the fact (of the matter): the truth with regard to the subject under discussion.
7. Law. In sing. and pl. The circumstances and incidents of a case, looked at apart from their legal bearing. attorney in fact: see ATTORNEY.
8. attrib. and Comb., as fact-fetishism, -fetishist ns.; fact-bound, -crammed adjs.; fact-collecting, -cramming vbl. ns.; fact-gathering vbl. n. and ppl. adj.; fact-finding ppl. a., that finds out facts; esp. descriptive of a committee, commission, etc., set up to discover and establish the facts of any matter; also as vbl. n., the work involved in such a process; hence (as a back-formation) fact-find v. intr.; also fact-finder; fact-proof a., impervious to facts; fact-sheet, a paper on which facts relevant to a particular issue are set out briefly and clearly.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
I keep seeing references in stories to, "growing Linux market share," but they never seem to actually list what that market share might be or how it's calculated. In this story they have no problem listing the rough percentage of Windows systems and a percentage of Mac systems but don't actually mention a number for Linux systems.
I love Linux very much but I don't think it really counts as "growth" in any noteworthy fashion until we hit 1%.
My cuntry Khazakstan write like you, great justice.
That's true with nerds too. Why, just the other day, I was Yahooing a javascript method...
See what you did there? "Why, that fool doesn't use Google!" The mainstream - and yet still the coolest - search engine. Because it works the best.
Popularity does not always have a negative feedback loop.
I bought them both and originally intended to do my own custom build of Linux, but I started to use the XP Home that they came with (tweaked) and they work like a charm.
I disabled Express gate for security reasons.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
Apple will NEVER get more than maybe 10% of the market. The company doesn't scale well. And they tie OSX to their hardware.
Let's say Apple releases Snow Leopard. It's the greatest OS known to man. it's 50% faster than 10.5, runs ALL Windows applications faster than Windows, has ZFS as the filesystem, and has zero security flaws.
Ok, great, let's run it. But I have to buy a machine from Apple. Now if I just want a machine, I can get one. But Apple has enough problems with releasing new systems with their 8% share now. What happens when this goes to 20%? 30%? They are bottlenecked by the number of systems they can produce. They physically can't get the number of systems out there to get any real marketshare. Is OSX better than Vista? No arguments here. But what already has more share? When you have one company releasing something, and everyone else releasing something else, Windows will win every time. It doesn't matter how great OSX is, or how shitty Windows is. Which this is something most people figured out ages ago. Except for the Apple people, who somehow think OSX can take over the world.
Now if they licensed OSX, and then you have Dell, HP, et.al. selling them, it's another thing. But Jobs will never do this, so talking about it is a moot point.
Only problem with that is if you run Adblock et al, you'll not show up in the stats. If you don't connect to one of the sites running Net Apps partner adverts, you'll not show up in the stats. If you don't use the internet or use it rarely, you'll not show up in the stats.
This site gives a better view as it aggregates data from several different sources and doesn't just use one that can be excluded by an ad blocker.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
Windows apple mix cookies it really just doesn't matter, a week ago I would have gotten worked up over this into some kind of evangelical Linux trip, but I dunno, who really cares? It's a disk, with a bunch of numbers on it, and when you put it in your computer, it draws boxes and prints words and makes pictures and provides a nice platform to play Solitaire. I mean, sounds good to me. Blue screen of death! Best code ever written.
"But seriously dude, what is that in the radiator?"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Hi troll. Up to your usual bullshit and harassment? When you don't see me, you chase shadows. That's almost as dumb as saying that GNU/Linux represents less than 2% of the desktop market. The details of your argument don't support anything else, but I can go through them anyway because your lies are offensive.
If you go back and read Mr. Shen's comments, you will find that he was talking about shipments not sales. There's a big difference between the two that probably explains the reason EEE PC sold 4 million units instead of 5. He's recently been quoted debunking much of what you say, but we really can't expect him to be able to tell the truth thanks to M$'s vendor and OEM lock. M$ obviously whipped his ass.
Windows based netbooks being shipped is channel stuffing that will burn vendors dumb enough to fall for it. The bottom line is that GNU/Linux runs better and provides more features on netbooks than Windows ever will. XP requires an extra 4GB of SD just to load onto the original EEE PC and no one bought that model for Windows. If XP is not bad enough out of the box, it will be after six months of net use. Good luck getting that thing rebuilt at the local mom and pop computer store. Any sales of Windows EEE PCs are coming from dedicated GNU/Linux fan who hold their nose at vendor price fixing and buy an inappropriately cheaper but higher specced version. Casual users know better and are stocking up on full sized Vista failure notebooks at $300 a pop.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Having 90% market share in 1995 is not the same as 90% market share in 2008. A better comparison would be with a number/volume difference. Also, how do THEY know how many people had Windows in 1995?
Imagine Ford gets 9 out of 10 car sales, just has it does pretty every year; would you say that's a competitive market?
Nobody cares about "linux devices". The real market share we are looking at growing is consumer desktops and laptops.
Never mind millions of routers or switches with embedded linux.
Never mind any other machines, electronics or gadgets with embedded linux.
Whenever somebody talks about the widespread growth of "linux devices" I tend to think that those people care little about Linux becoming viable competition on the desktop and more about getting linux embedded into devices where it seems to really be finding its niche.
No, no, no. It's pronounced "DO-Apple-Y."
Let us not become the evil that we deplore.
One of the biggest resons that people are stikking with Windows, is Games.
It is still not the norm to make games for other then Windows, and when game companys do, it is offen whit 6+ month delay after the windows release.
So gamers can't really leave Windows :-(
And there is A LOT of gamers out there
OK, Microsoft makes a bit more than a billion dollars a week in gross revenue, and more than $930 million per week in profit.
Apple, on $32 Billion in revenue, makes a bit more than $11 billion in profit. Microsoft makes almost as much in a week as Apple does in a month.
Novell plus Red Hat? The two major Linux companies spend a year generating the revenue that Microsoft generates in a week and a half or so.
Google generates less than a third of Microsoft's revenue, and their gross profits are under $10 billion, less than Apple's.
Anyone who thinks that Microsoft doesn't have the resources to hire who it needs to in order to deal with changing market conditions is nuts. A few years ago, Intel was supposedly on the ropes. They changed direction, killed a few processors, and fairly quickly released the Core Duo processors and turned the company around. AMD was left flat-footed, and are only now even coming close to regaining their footing. I don't really care much whether Microsoft does, but I don't think people realize the difference in scale and the difference in resources that can be brought to bear. If Windows 7 works and gains acceptance, it won't matter that Vista had huge problems. And they're spending a ton on stuff like Sharepoint, which is a relatively unique product - and good enough to get a ton of organizations to tolerate vendor "lock in" to get the feature set.
Don't underestimate how much money they have and how many talented people they do have in much of the company. You can certainly compete with them and make money, but it's unlikely that even Google will be able to dislodge them any time soon.
Microsoft's number 1 competitor is the INTERNET. People can now inform the rest of us, even non-savvy computer users, of alternatives and why they should switch -- or at least have a look at what else is out there. People are FED UP with viruses, and getting credit cards and passwords and all kinds of sensitive personal data stolen. The media is blaming Microsoft for not patching ( or unable ) the security holes in their Browser and Operating system. People do not want bloat, blink and marketing shoved down their thoats, any longer. The economic crisis is proof of this. If you have seen microsoft's latest Adverts, ( which basically do NOTHING to convince anyone to switch to Vista for Businesses ) is a COMPLETE failure compared to MAC BookPro's toting Recycled, power efficient GREEN notebooks, which hits on target for a GREAT selling point. MS continues to miss the target with all of their Adverts (across the board) Because, of the Blogosphere, people can talk about products before buying them. They can read the horror stories of credit phishing, viruses, or read groklaw.net and see all the law suites against Microsoft. Microsoft was all powerful BEFORE THE INTERNET. But, Microsoft can no longer 'hide behind lyes' as the truth now gets out, for all to share. Perfect example is VISTA and BOTNETS that infest WINDOWS machines. The INTERNET allows any one to freely download alternative OS's like any of the 500+ Linux Distros. Admins are more and more recommending to their companies, If you want to save in costs, use a FREE Operating System. The Internet is starting to make computing on the 'CLOUD' using Google Docs and ability to easily download a FREE word, spread, and presentation suite for FREE. The Internet truely is Microsoft's worse enemy. If not for the Internet, Microsoft could continue away and extorting others, forcing unlawful OEM deals based on fear. But, now they can not. Why? THE INTERNET exposes them. The new Media of the new Millenium called the INTERNET is changing every bodies views. Slowly but surely, software will become more and more commoditized and competition will be fierce.
I take issue with your signature. I think you'll find the majority of people on Slashdot were saying that cloud computing was a stupid buzz word way before RMS said anything.
You've just crossed over into.. the Twilight Zone.
This is huge news, looks like the trend is moving away from Windows.
The iPhone platform is less than one year old, and at 0.4% has a presence half the size of Linux. Operating System Market Share
MS Vista has 20% of the market, up 8% since January. Linux 0.8%, up 0.2%. Pathetic.
In rounded numbers, Windows - all versions - still has a 90% share.
It takes a Geek to read statistical significance in a 1% drop in a webstat.
The most useful way to read these numbers is simply as a reminder of the growing number of web-enabled mobile devices and home appliances -- a reminder as well that both Apple and Microsoft are both significant and successful players in these emerging markets.
This is good news. It surely means the year of the Linux Desktop is impending.
I think you misspelt "imploding".
It's good to see what your reaction is when you're caught lying through your teeth and someone rips you a new one. You find it "offensive", of all things.
I run 10 systems at home on 3 physical systems.
8 are Linux.
1 is Vista (came with new laptop)
1 is WinXP running in a VM (needed for work)
I doubt that anyone is counting my 8-1-1 setup properly.
Palladium never happened.
Is anyone else hugely disappointed that the shift is just from one corporate OS to another? By shifting from Windows to OS X the shift is just more of the same, in the long run.
A pity it's not a shift to Linux and more people adopting open source. I mean Apple don't exactly have a shining record for copyright / customer treatment, etc. So if they become the next big power player, the customer doesn't exactly win, here.
GNU/Linux does not have a market share because it operates out of the market. A few GNU/Linux distributions are commercial and therefore can have market share, but the majority of distros operate in out of the market. GNU/Linux is out of the market because it is not a product. Rather, GNU/Linux is an act of free speech, an act of love and passion, and a gift.
So, counting the market share of GNU/Linux has no meaning, since it's not a product. Calling it a competitor to any other OS is also wrong, for the same reason. Calling free software products of competitors are propaganda terms designed to make decision makers believe that GNU/Linux could potentially be subject to regulations about products. But if they suceed in this, then they can cook some new regulation that would effectivelly ban GNU/Linux. Don't let them do this, call GNU/Linux and free software what it really is: free speech, not a product, and therefore protected as free speech rather than subject to product regulations.
Just to tell you an example, suppose a new regulation says that all products must contain encryption that is X bits powerful and the keys be submitted to a central repository, but that the product must take precautions not to let its users discover the keys. Such a regulation would apply on products (IANAL: I am not a lawyer), but what if you printed a book with your words that just happen to be the secret keys? Free speech is protected so printing a book must be ok (IANAL: I am not a lawyer). Now, if someone comes and say "look you hackers, you created an OS and you put it online for download, therefore you have put a product in the market, therefore you must hide the secret key" that would be a cause of trouble if they suceed in labelling free software packages as products. But free software in my view is not a product, it is an exercise of free speech.
So, next time someone labels your free software a product, a market participant, or a competitor to their products, just tell them the truth: your free software was never supposed to be viewed as a product, your free software is instead only an act of free speech, and the fact that it is available online is an exercise of the right of assembly and communication with other people, as well as a gift.
In a similar way, product regulations may say that new TVs should do this and that, but if you are an engineer and you build your own homebrew TV at home and you just want to post its blueprints online to share your passion with fellow homebrew engineers then your creations should be treated as free speech rather than as an attempt to enter the market, therefore in my view amateurs should not be subject to product and market regulation rules in the same way as commercial players are.
Of course I have absolutely no idea whether this line of thinking would make any sense in a legal setting about questions of applicability of product regulations on free software, as I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.
With most players, you don't have to use any "music manager." Just mount the device and copy.
That's true for MP3 players that implement USB's mass storage device class: the mounter in any operating system since 1999 just treats it as a removable disk drive formatted in FAT16 or FAT32 depending on the capacity. But other MP3 players, especially those that support WMA files with digital restrictions management, are Media Transfer Protocol devices. MTP is a protocol based on the Picture Transfer Protocol used by some scanners and cameras. For PTP and MTP devices, "mount the device" means that the music manager is a shell extension for Windows Explorer, and the issue is that not every graphical shell on other operating systems has such an extension.
If I was an MS shareholder*, I would applaud their attempts at diversifying and reducing, just that tiny little bit, their dependence on PC OS sales. Some efforts have failed (Zune, search), but others are doing well.
-The Xbox 360 is a very successful product in gaming.
-Windows Mobile is a very successful product in the cellphone market.
-Products like Windows CE Automotive are in use.
-MSN/Live Messenger dominates IM, at least in the UK.
*I'm not an MS shareholder and I use PS3/iPhone/iPod/OSX.
that I made a permanent switch from XP to Linux. You're welcome. :P
Lose: misplace or fail || Loose: not bound together
These type of stats always ignore the bulk of Linux devices. There are more than 300 million Linux devices sold every year.
But how many of those Linux devices allow end users to install applications developed by a team of amateurs? Most notably, TiVo DVRs fail this, as they use code signing to reject all binaries not approved by TiVo.
Hey twitter: Saying "M$" doesn't bother me, but you might gain more fans by condensing your rants down to 140 characters or less.
One of my clients just told me this week that four of their people, who were on my maintenance contract for Windows support, would be shifted to Mac laptops. Two other staff members were shifted earlier, and they are happy with their systems after having had problems with Vista and XP. The staff members who were shifted basically don't do much beyond email and Web work, so they don't really need a lot of Windows software. One of the two earlier shifted staff members is running Parallels on her Mac to deal with QuickBooks. This company will probably shift several more people in the new future.
One of my other clients, which does digital media conversion, has brought in a Mac server-grade system to handle some of their video editing which was bogging down their Windows XP workstations.
So, yes, it's happening. The dam is breaking and people are getting fed up with Windows to the degree that they can afford to (i.e., software lock-in.)
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
THIS is the year of Linux??? Just like last year... and the year before... and the year before...
Yes, because changing multiple years long contracts with labels and the reformatting of 7+ million songs can be done at the drop of a hat.
Oh wait...
Given the current economic slowdown and the relentless pressure on management to "take cost out of the system," I wonder when a medium to large company will decide that it can save a bundle by switching to Gnu/Linux Desktops for most of its employees. I have to admit that such a desktop with Open Office and Gnome [I use Mandriva 2009] does most of what a typical worker needs. Such a platform runs well on modest hardware. I do electron microscopy and image processing and must admit that there are many tasks where a couple of proprietary packages that only run under Windows are essential. Even these run on my Linux box in a virtual machine. Still, I have abandoned several others in favor of some very good F/OSS packages (fityk, Maxima, IPLT, and Sage.) The wonderful Python tools make scientific work and even "gluing together" legacy command line tools very productive.
I really think it is a matter of time until a huge chunk of MAC switchers come back to Windows. They were likely sold on all those promises and a hate for Microsoft's OS problems. They will eventually have some problem with MAC like incompatibility or hardware failure that will make them realize that they did not arrive in computer heaven with their expensive MAC purchase.
On another note, I think Ubuntu is really great and does not require proprietary hardware like the MAC. It deserves to grow and become a legitimate competitor. If Steam and Steam games comes to Linux, that would immediately switch many people to full time Linux users.
Now it is an acknowledged 1.1% of a massive market.
I say this as somebody that has installed several Ubuntu machines for family and friends. I wonder how many people like us are not showing on that statistic.
Empirical UK centred tidbit: there are 3 major Linux magazines readily available in shops (Linux Format, Linux Magazine, Linux User) and there is only one for Apple fan boys (MacUser). There must be a market out there that is not necessarily entering the marketing statistics but that can be gauged by other means.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Methinks not. Read the article. There's a brief mention of the Linux market share at the end. It turns out the Linux market share was actually higher in September (.9%) than it is now (.83%). How does anyone except a diehard Linux user equate that with gaining on the Windows market? Coverage of tech events seems to be a lot like coverage of political events in that lies and filtering are used to produce desirable outcomes rather than report the truth.
Will 2009 be the year of the Linux desktop? At this pathetic and uncertain rate of progress, you guys probably will never see that day. Unless Linux becomes incredibly better in the near future, it will always be The-OS-That-Never-Was-The-Successor-To-Windows-And-Had-No-Hope-Of-Beating-Microsoft-Either.
The Mac Heads are in a little better shape. At least they made gains rather than lost ground since September. And they've earned it. When you make serious investments in your products and market them well, you should expect good results. The fact that the two best desktop operating systems in the world are eating away at one another is a good thing for competition and innovation.
As usual, whatever goes on in the Linux world doesn't matter a peep to a vast majority of desktop users. Linux users aren't about to topple capitalism soon, and open source developers just aren't good enough or dedicated enough to rise to the level of excellence of their Microsoft and Apple peers. From a functional, ease of use, and performance point of view, Linux has a LOT of ground to make up.
So Apple has finally reached the point where they can stop stealing market share from Teh Lunix (Switch!), and is now edging in to the Windows market.
Although much of that 1.1% marketshare could possibly still be turned on to Apple. It's never too late to Think Different.
While MS and hardware manufacturers drop support for perfectly usable hardware Linux will pick up support for them at some point and the support will rarely be removed.
Now, if you talk about new hardware, then yes, Linux may support less devices, but you can still get perfectly working systems (here I include peripherals of all kind) if you stick to dvices using open or documented standards (for example almost all USB disks will work out of the box with Linux, because given the nature of the device it has to work with different OSes, and thus MS has not been able to steal the specification, not yet at least).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Here in the UK Currys and PCWorld amongst others are selling these alongside Windows laptops.
These shops have the pulse in what is going mainstream, if they are selling them this means they are no longer the preserve of the geek.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I want to catch a rocket there.
If MS is having it so great why investors have driven its share price to the floor?
If MS is sitting pretty why do they need to embarrass themselves trying to buy Yahoo instead of fixing their own search engine? Or why do they do "protection" (like mafia bosses) deal with Novell and other Linux companies while at the same time launching not so subtle threats of patent trolling?
Lets not forget neither that MS has now half the cash they used to have, so they are hemorraging it like there is no tomorrow.
I frankly don't understand your rosy vision of MS's situation. A company of such size has a lot of inertia, heck, many banks last year where performing like champs and look where they are now.
MS has problems, the bosses know it, but I do not think they really know how to address them...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Oh, a sarcasm detector. That's a /real/ useful device.
Klller apps that don't exist anywhere else? Most certainly not going to happen. Again, 99% of software for Linux is open source. If people like any of those programs they are going to port them to other platforms. That's a given.
I think we should replace this concept.
What Linux needs is a "Killer Use" for witch its the single best tool for the job and there strong incentive to use that instead of the rest.
This has somewhat already happened due to the better scalability of the OS.
The same kernel (Linux) can be run any where from super computer and main frame through desktops, down to netbooks, and even much smaller device - as a firmware on the countless electronic gizmo that you can find in everyday life.
In fact if you stop think about *desktop* computer, chances are that there are already quite a few number of devices running linux in your home or in average Joe's : the cable or DSL modem/router you use to get on the net, the set top box in the cabinet under your TV screen, the networked harddisk enclosure you use to share file and backup stuff to, the embed print server which enables you to print stuff wirelessly from your laptop without needing to hunt an USB cable, the multimedia-harddisk enclosure you use to watch on your TV the DivX you torrented of Piratebay, etc.
The same advantage is to be available soonish for Mac OS X - the desktop Mac OS X on iMac and the embed OS X on iPhone/iPod are quite related.
Meanwhile : Microsoft has a disjointed offering with two separate OS sharing the same name but featuring incompatible API - Windows CE and Windows Vista.
What Linux needs is cumulating such feature which make it a much better choice.
Why would someone code for a platform that is only 1% of the total market? It's financial suicide. The only business that would typically do that would be one trying to push the platform from some idealistic standpoint, but businesses that put ideals like that in front of profits don't tend to remain in business very long.
Well, if for some specific features which are of core importance to your business Linux is a much better choice, Linux will be the target.
I mentioned customizability for embed platforms before. Hence Linux is quite widespread in firmwares.
Linux is a much better choice for clusters too for lots of reasons (NUMA support, better scheduling, etc.).
Thus scientists tend to write software to do their calculations for Linux.
To conquest the desktop, Linux should try to find similar killer features.
If you look back : artistic (GFX, publishing, etc) software has often been written for Mac OS even if Windows had the biggest install base.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Is there even a single site that would work on Firefox/Win but not Firefox/Lin?
Any site that relies on an NPAPI plug-in available for Windows and not Linux. For example, to access sites made with Director (not Flash) on Linux, you need to run Firefox and Shockwave Player in Wine.