It's not 1991 anymore. Most modern Linux distros, like Ubuntu and Fedora, are as easy to use as OS X. Maybe even easier, with the package managers doing all the work of installation and configuring.
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Apple's Market Share Hitting Highs
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Why would they sue? Competition isn't illegal, and no one "owns" market share, it's something that gets acquired over time.
The market share is the number reported above - the average lifetime of the systems has no impact on market share.
The number you're searching for is installed base. If Macs have a longer average life than Windows computers (which seems to be pretty well supported by evidence), then the Mac's percentage of installed base will be greater than its market share.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen any installed base numbers that I trust.
Apple will always be Apple. Microsoft, Microsoft.
Microsoft is in "cruise" mode now with their majority marketshare. They won't care about loosing a few points. Hardly a blip on the radar for them...
(II) Forever!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEgn2K-MI6E
Well that and the fact that Microsoft is more interested in emerging markets like India and China. The growth there more than offsets a couple percentage points loss in the US, which is basically a stagnant market.
I've had my iPhone since July and still use the web features constantly!
Not that they have to, but more and more sites are making tailored web interfaces for the iPhone. The main benefit of that being much quicker load times over Edge.
Just today I discovered that Amazon has a beta interface. It didn't quite make it all the way through to a purchase, but I was able to enter in a new credit card number (hmm, adding credit card data using my cell. Am I stupid or brave?) and I got much further than I expected to.
Not that they have to, but more and more sites are making tailored web interfaces for the iPhone. The main benefit of that being much quicker load times over Edge.
Just today I discovered that Amazon has a beta interface. It didn't quite make it all the way through to a purchase, but I was able to enter in a new credit card number (hmm, adding credit card data using my cell. Am I stupid or brave?) and I got much further than I expected to.
Alright! cha ching! I bought Apple 7 years ago for an adjusted for split price of $25/share. That amounts to a 700% return on my investment. I read an article recently stating that Apple has been the only company to meet or exceed it's price target for the past 13 consecutive quarters. 1 year targets have been posted anywhere from $209 - $225, so Apple isn't done yet. Now, these estimates are based on "known" things...projected sales of macs, ipods, iphones, etc. What makes Apples stock explode are better than expected sales and most importantly, the "secret" surprise announcements that make the world go "wow!, I love that, I need that". With the upcoming Macworld rumors of a subnotebook, I think consumers are ready for something exciting with computer hardware and assuming it's priced right, people will gobble it up. More importantly would be Apple's announcement of movie rentals and a re-designed TV. Seeing how media distribution is such a hot topic and a garbled mess atm, imagine if Apple reworks the TV to include a DVR, and possible Blu-Ray/HD DVD player. (I hope at least for a DVR to essentially shoot the bird at NBC.) This would in turn amount to more people buying Apple products and more people switching to Macs as a result. Damn maybe I should buy more shares myself....
TV. Seeing how media distribution is such a hot topic and a garbled mess atm, imagine if Apple reworks the TV to include a DVR, and possible Blu-Ray/HD DVD player. (I hope at least for a DVR to essentially shoot the bird at NBC.) This would in turn amount to more people buying Apple products and more people switching to Macs as a result. Damn maybe I should buy more shares myself....I find the battery life on the iPhone is much better when I'm using WiFi instead of EDGE personally.
Get a grip. Apple increased its market share by nearly 21%, not 1.41%. 6.8% is about 21% bigger than 5.39%.
I will give you that Linux distros are way easier than they have been in the past. In fact, I like Ubuntu. However, OS X feels more polished and easy to use.
Could be because edge is so slow it spends a lot more time connected. I often get time outs on edge... I've seen it take 5-10 minutes to load a page. And I'm talking about Yahoo...
And wifi is a lot worse on battery with active scanning enabled. And manually turning wi-fi on and off each and every time I want to browse is a case study in wasted time.
Upshot, a lot less browsing for me.
I think its more about the increase in OSX sales and decrease in Windows.
And when you think that 6% have bought an Apple computer, where 92% are running anything. It's very good for Apple. I'd never have thought Apple would have this high a share considering you have to be using it on an Apple computer (without hacking).
That number is still really really miniscule. It's like in 100 people, a windows guy switched over the mac to form a 7 man group. The other 93 people are still using windows.
I doubt these numbers are correct though 'cause I've seen a lot more people using macs at school than ever. Especially the sea of white dotted with black when I got to one of my humanities electives.
I doubt these numbers are correct though 'cause I've seen a lot more people using macs at school than ever. Especially the sea of white dotted with black when I got to one of my humanities electives.
not quite sure what to make of the iphone versus windows mobile comparisons. Anybody who uses windows mobile will most likely have ditched pocket internet explorer and gone looking for a better one. I'd like to see how they determine windows mobile devices as their information is a little lacking to me. Another thing is they seem to be missing java and symbian devices which are mainly mobile phones so this could mean that windows mobile based phones could be neglected too, skewing the results somewhat.
I personally use opera and have used minimo (firefox based) in the past because pocket ie is absolutely useless.
I personally use opera and have used minimo (firefox based) in the past because pocket ie is absolutely useless.
The number itself is small, but every new user is good. Sure there are those 93 on Windows still, but when their friend that switched convinces them to switch the number becomes 92 and so on. Even at one less per 100 per year, it is still an improvement and will eventually become a larger number. It is also good that younger people tend to lean towards Mac, this means more lifetime customers.
I personally never want it to be close to 50-50. I prefer Mac being the minority and would like for it to eventually be something like 70% Windows and 25% Mac. If Mac becomes as big or bigger than Windows, I don't think the company would be the same.
A couple thoughts on the numbers themselves:
--This will undercount Windows, Linux, and SunOS because servers won't be hitting many web sites. That doesn't diminish the year over year increases, but should be born in mind when comparing with other stats.
--Anybody have any ideas why "other" took a sudden drop? It was happily ratcheting up then fell off...
I can't tell for sure without paying, but if you go to Operating Systems on the left, you get the same numbers but there's a link for "GeoFilter" that lets you select by country. It defaults to "all", but I can't confirm that's what the graphs are actually showing.
Based on their methodology, I'd guess it's world wide, but heavily biased towards the US. Meaning I'd suspect that most of the sites they're monitoring are US sites and therefore are biased towards US traffic.
--This will undercount Windows, Linux, and SunOS because servers won't be hitting many web sites. That doesn't diminish the year over year increases, but should be born in mind when comparing with other stats.
--Anybody have any ideas why "other" took a sudden drop? It was happily ratcheting up then fell off...
I can't tell for sure without paying, but if you go to Operating Systems on the left, you get the same numbers but there's a link for "GeoFilter" that lets you select by country. It defaults to "all", but I can't confirm that's what the graphs are actually showing.
Based on their methodology, I'd guess it's world wide, but heavily biased towards the US. Meaning I'd suspect that most of the sites they're monitoring are US sites and therefore are biased towards US traffic.
I justed tried the latest Ubuntu on my late model Dell laptop. I had to write a custom script to write out my X config file at boot time to support a secondary display when I was plugged into the LCD at my desk.
Every time I think they're getting close, I try the latest release and find something else like this. They have come a long way, that is for sure- but will they ever "get there"... or will they always be just a few steps behind?
Best News this Month
I'm happy for Apple. This is great news, and helps me in my quest to continue making new converts to the Apple faithful. At my Seminary, I came in as the only Mac user on campus four years ago. We now have 26 Mac users (of a total population of about 110), with 4 more Macs in the library! And most of the Mac users have had such an improvement in their computer experience with the Mac that they're working on converting family and friends... it's a ripple effectpay it forward, eh?
Go!
I'm happy for Apple. This is great news, and helps me in my quest to continue making new converts to the Apple faithful. At my Seminary, I came in as the only Mac user on campus four years ago. We now have 26 Mac users (of a total population of about 110), with 4 more Macs in the library! And most of the Mac users have had such an improvement in their computer experience with the Mac that they're working on converting family and friends... it's a ripple effectpay it forward, eh?
Go
!Oh it's not that bad. It's more like 4-8 hours of effing around to get it configured (assuming you want you computer to do useful things like play media) if you've done your homework and bought compatible hardware (also some hardware is more compatible than others). Then it's anywhere from 0 -23 hours after each software update (swearing + beer makes it go faster). In all seriousness I run Linux (Suse 10.3) and like it. Once it's configured it's as solid and stable as OS X, but getting it configured can be a real PIA and updates can cause unintended problems (which is why our 'family' computer is a mini).
The old airline joke cribbed from (http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3304051309.html) is still fairly relevant (though I'd add that the Mac flight is perfectly pleasant).
As to the Topic. This shouldn't come as surprise to anyone. Vista is awful and is such a resource hog that by the time you've bought the hardware that it requires to run smoothly you could get a better performing Mac for less.
I'm calling BS on this.
Try calling your Grandpa or Mom and talking her through the process of either (A) changing a network setting or (b) reinstalling the OS over the phone. It's possible (even if it's difficult) to do it using OS X. It's impossible (unless your grandpa or mom is a computer geek) with Linux. Any distro. Period.
And end users also need that extra UI polish present in OS X or Windows. If you installed Linux on any typical Mac or PC user's computer, you'd have to spend hours helping them understand the fact that Microsoft Word won't run on their computer any more.
Linux may be as easy or easier for you, especially if you're a computer nut, but it's not objectively easier.
I would suspect it's the same way they determine who is using Safari on the iPhone. It's all in the identifier string each browser sends out, which I would guess no matter what browser you are using on your windows mobile device, would still identify the fact that it's a windows mobile device.