X-bit labs

Microsoft Windows Vista’s Market Share Soars Slowly But Surely.

Category: Other

by Anton Shilov

[ 11/23/2007 | 01:24 PM ]

Despite of widespread critics among certain groups of end-users, Microsoft Windows Vista operating system (OS) captured additional part of the market in October, whereas other operating systems from Microsoft reduced their installed base. At the same time, platforms from Apple reduced the shares of the market they command.

In September the share of Windows Vista-based personal computers used to browse the Internet was close to 8%, 7.91% to be precise, up insignificantly, according to data collected by Net Applications, a provider of Web tools. The shares of Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems decreased to 3.16% and 79.07%.

The share of systems based on Mac OS decreased to 6.55% in October, down from 6.61% a month before, which may indicate that sales of Apple Macintosh computers were not faster than sales of Microsoft Windows-based systems.

“Other” operating systems, namely outdated Windows versions, Linux OSes and so on, which have been losing market share for many months now, are now used in 3.31% of devices that are used for Internet browsing.

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft Windows Vista manages to capture 10% of the market by the end of the year, as it has to capture more than two percent of the market in two months. On the other hand, sales of PCs increase dramatically in November, thus, the new operating system may truly expand its presence considerably in the coming months.

It was unclear at press time how many computer systems Net Applications tracked in October, 2007.