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Monday, September 03, 2012, 08:00 am
Apple's OS X passes Windows Vista in worldwide usage
Total Web usage of Apple's OS X operating system has exceeded Microsoft's Windows Vista, while for the first time, Windows 7 has topped Windows XP to become the world's largest operating system.The latest monthly data of desktop operating shares from Net Applications shows that Microsoft's Windows Vista fell in August to 6.15 percent of tracked Web usage. Meanwhile, Apple's latest operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, grew to 1.34 percent of all tracked Web usage.
Apple's most popular Mac operating system remains OS X 10.7 Lion, which represents 2.29 percent of computers tracked on the Web. Combined with Snow Leopard, which accounted for 2.23 percent of usage, Leopard, which took 0.65 percent, the total collective share of OS X was 6.51 percent, besting the 6.15 percent held by Windows Vista.
Also on the list is Apple's OS X 10.4 Tiger, which first launched in April of 2005. It represented 0.15 percent of operating systems seen online.
Apple's share of devices is of course much greater when the iPad and iPhone are included. Net Applications found that the iPad accounted for 3.37 percent of Web traffic, while the iPhone was 2.42 percent.
Among other mobile platforms, Google Android 2.3 took 1.02 percent, Android 4.0 had 0.48 percent, Android 2.2 accounted for 0.21 percent, BlackBerry was 0.18 percent, and Apple's iPod took 0.16 percent. The smallest share listed by Net Applications was Amazon's Kindle Fire, which accounted for 0.04 percent of devices.
At the top of the list and besting Windows XP for the first time was Microsoft's Windows 7, with a 38.54 percent share that put it ahead of the 38.46 percent held by Windows XP. Also on the list was Windows 8, Microsoft's forthcoming operating system upgrade, which was found to be in testing by 0.21 percent of PC users.
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Previous Comments View All
Although the title is textually correct, I would say Vista lost share to "pass" OS-X ?
The main point of this news in other media was that Windows 7 finally passed Windows XP.
We're measuring an OS that runs only on a closed, unlicensed platform for which the entry fee is typically $1000, vs. a universally-licensed OS that runs on every PC under under the sun, from the good, to the bad, to the downright ugly, at all price points.
OS X market share and Windows market share are completely different measures, with completely different forces driving them. One is driven by consumer satisfaction and ability to pay for a certain level of User Experience. The other is driven by market flooding via universal licensing.
Where the rubber meets the road, 8 years running:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/20/apple-tops-u-s-pc-customer-satisfaction-survey-for-eighth-consecutive-time/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20108336-17/apple-tops-in-customer-satisfaction-for-8th-year/
Wow, Windows XP just won't die, will it?
39% of web traffic generated from a operating system that's over 10 years old.
Wow, Windows XP just won't die, will it?
39% of web traffic generated from a operating system that's over 10 years old.
Quite an accomplishment...
You can be free (linux) but still people stay with XP
You can be a successor (vista/7) but people stay with XP
You can be presumably better (OS-X) but people stay with XP.
Is it that good ? :)
I would say that xp is still ahead, I'm sure there are a lot of xp computers still being used and not connected to the internet.
Windows XP is not good per se, it is what they know, and some users dont' want to upgrade. I am sure a lot would even switch to OSX, but are afraid to jump ship...
Quite an accomplishment...
You can be free (linux) but still people stay with XP
You can be a successor (vista/7) but people stay with XP
You can be presumably better (OS-X) but people stay with XP.
Is it that good ? :)
The Windows users I know personally never upgrade the operating system. They take what was installed on their machine when it was purchased and use it until they have to buy another machine. I work for AT&T and my company issued laptop is XP. Windows 7 is just now beginning to show up. Add this to the "post PC era" where desktop and laptop sales are slowing in favor of mobile devices and you see why XP is still around. No, it's not that good.
So we're measuring all of Apple's desktop OSes against a single version of desktop Windows that was never a great seller and finally dropped to a point to be lower than Mac OS X because Win 7 is more popular? I'm not seeing the relevance in comparing it to Mac OS X. Vista is crap regardless if it's installed base is higher or lower than all of Mac OS X.
I'm confused as to why this is a story...
Is it that good ? :)
In many respects, it is. It got (and still gets) the job done, it has broad hardware support, and it just works. Security issues aside, for most people and many companies, it's just not worth the hassle of upgrading yet.
And just to reiterate what an earlier poster said, the article is a bit absurd in that it's comparing all versions of one OS to an unpopular and relatively short lived single version of another OS. It's no different from saying Android phones far FAR surpass the number of iPhone 3G's in use today. It's not wrong, but it proves nothing.
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So we're measuring all of Apple's desktop OSes against a single version of desktop Windows that was never a great seller and finally dropped to a point to be lower than Mac OS X because Win 7 is more popular? I'm not seeing the relevance in comparing it to Mac OS X. Vista is crap regardless if it's installed base is higher or lower than all of Mac OS X.