by Anton Shilov
01/09/2008 | 05:39 PM
Despite of all critics and skepticism, Microsoft Windows Vista was sold to 100 million clients in 2007 and got over 10% of install base share. The numbers not only demonstrate success of Microsoft’s latest operating system among early adopters, but also indicate that in one year Vista-based PCs managed to leave behind the whole install base of Apple Macintosh systems.
<%BANNER[article]%>“I’m pleased to say that we’ve got over 100 million people using Vista now, and that’s a very significant milestone for the kind of applications development, and special hardware work that we think is very important,” said Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft Corp., at Consumer Electronics Show 2008.
According to Net Applications, a provider of various Web tools, the share of PCs with Windows Vista installed that are used to browse the Internet increased to 10.48% in December, 2007, up more than one percent from 9.19% a month before. The increase should be attributed to increased sales of personal computers. Given that the vast majority of systems sold today in well-developed countries can run Windows Vista, it is hardly a surprise that the latest operating system by Microsoft is truly popular.
Although Windows Vista seems to be quite successful, the overall share of Microsoft Windows-enabled personal computers dropped to 90.75% in December from 92.42% in November and from 95.24% back in December ’05. The world’s largest maker of software has been losing its install base share in the PC space for several years, therefore, the current situation should not be a surprise for observers.
Apple Macintosh computers were used by 7.3% of Internet browsers, claims Net Applications, which is up a little bit from November’s 6.81 thanks to increased sales of Apple’s computers during the holiday season.
It was unclear at press time how many computer systems Net Applications tracked in December, 2007.