Mac Gains On Windows Part. 1

By : Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Windows lost nearly a full percentage point of market share for the second month in a row in December, pushing Microsoft Corp.'s operating system to a new low, an Internet measurement company reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, Apple Inc. 's Mac OS X posted a record gain that brought it close to a 10% share for the first time since Net Applications Inc. began tracking operating system use.


In December, 88.7% of the people who browsed the Web sites that Net Applications monitors did so using machines powered by Windows, a 0.94 percentage point drop from November. The slide was Windows' largest in the four years that Net Applications has collected operating system data, and the second record-setting monthly loss in a row for Microsoft's software.

During November, Windows' market share slipped 0.84 percentage point, dropping the operating system under 90% for the first time since Net Applications has been tracking OS use.

The combined decline of November and December totaled 1.8 percentage points, Windows' biggest two-month dip ever, nearly double that of its previous record, a 0.92 percentage point fall in December 2007 and January 2008.

Microsoft's OS ended the year down 3.1 percentage points, a 3.4% drop in its share from the same time last year.

Apple's Mac OS X's market share continued to grow at Windows' expense. For the second month in a row, Mac OS X posted a record increase, growing by 0.76 of a percentage point to end the month at 9.6%. December was the first time that Net Applications had pegged Apple's operating system above the 9% mark.

And just as Windows set a record for a two-month drop, Mac OS X set a record for a two-month increase during November and December. Those months' combined gain of 1.4 percentage points was substantially larger than the earlier record, a 0.9 percentage point boost the operating system received in September-October 2006, and almost double the 0.73 percentage point increase of November-December 2007.

Source : http://www.pcworld.com/