The month of December has already been unkind to Microsoft. The software giant's Windows operating system and its Internet Explorer browser saw significant market share drops reported on back-to-back days. Not only was the November percentage drop for Windows the biggest in two years, but Windows market share dipped below a number where it has historically held tight: 90 percent. According to Web metrics company, Net Applications, Windows market share as of Dec. 1 is 89.6 percent. Meanwhile, Mac OS X posted its largest gain in two years, with 8.9 percent market share at the end of November.
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Member since:2006-01-16
Exactly my thought. When two people quarrel, a third rejoices. Apple manages to bring the desperately needed competition to the market. Cross-Platform is becoming an issue for software vendors again. And it also has never been easier than today. A lot of intermediate libraries don't only bridge between these two, but due to their nature also enable ports to other systems.
Member since:2006-01-24
Well, like others I certainly relish furter competition in the desktop operating system market.
That said, I find these surveys inconclusive. Here's a wikipedia page that gathers several sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_desktop_operating_syste...
Personally, as for OSX's desktop penetration, when Microsoft starts to launch regular fud campaigns against Apple like they have with Linux (in the server space) then I'm going to say -'Yay! Competition on the desktop'. But as it stands, Microsofts desktop monopoly strikes me as solid.
Member since:
2006-01-04
When more people use Apple then Vendors and Websites need to support "other" platforms.
And that will hopefully lead to more open standards.
I hope my beloved "alternative" platforms will profit from that.