Highlights from NetApplications data for October - Linux market share drops

Summary: NetApplications has released data for October so it's time to dig through the trends.

NetApplications has released data for October so it's time to dig through the trends:

  • IE market share continues the slow market share erosion, down to 71.27% (down from 71.52% in September, and 78.36% a year ago).
  • Overall IE7 made small gains while IE6 slipped.
  • Firefox market share up to its highest level, 19.97% (up from 19.46% in September, and 14.87% a year ago).
  • Opera up to its highest level, 0.75% (up from 0.69% in September, an 0.58% a year ago).
  • Chrome market share drops to 0.74%, from 0.78 last month.
  • Slight blip in Windows numbers, to 90.46% (up slightly from 90.29% last month, and down from 92.49% a year ago).
  • Vista continues to slowly grab market share from XP, up to 19.29% (up from 18.33% last month, and 7.94% a year ago).
  • Mac share slips slightly to 8.21% (down from 8.26% a month ago, and 6.58% a year ago).
  • Big slip for Linux this month, down to 0.71% (down from 0.91% a month ago, and up from 0.50% a year ago).
  • Small gain for iPhone, to 0.33% (up from 0.32% a month ago, and up from 0.07% a year ago).

Topics: Windows, Browser, Data Centers, Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software

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62 comments
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  • In coming!!! Linux zealots' Mass Weapn of Denial. Dodge!

    (NT).
    LBiege
    • It's not only denial. There's also the conspiracy theories.

      For zealots MS just can't be successful. Any bright spots in the MS world are all lies designed to make Linux look bad.
      transposeIT
  • Can you please talk about other things

    This post is boring. It doesn't really matters if nobody want to use Linux as long as they happy. I use it and I don't really need others to use it with me.
    cruggeld
    • That's good...

      ...because it seems like no-one else is.
      Sleeper Service
  • Similar to John McCain...

    People keep counting Windows out but they will soon see that it cannot be stopped. Windows 7 and John McCain: 2 critical parts of the US economy that we desperately need in order to stay an independent nation. Glad to see the Socialist Linux falling off the charts, similar to McCain/Palin's opponents!
    Mike Cox
    • 50% windows are

      not genuine. So, Microsoft doesn't get anything, not a single cent.
      cruggeld
      • 75% of all statistics

        are made up on the spot. But half of Linux distros are free, so what is the point? Even if it's pirated, for every machine running only a pirated copy of Windows is a machine not running Linux.

        That being the case, Legit Windows users and true Linux fans alike should be concerned about piracy. It's kicking both your butts, along with Apple fans.

        Microsoft can survive with no income for longer then anyone else at this point. So if you think losing income to piracy is going to stop the evil empire, you have another thing coming. Especially seeing you don't even have to pay for a copy of a "pay for" distro of Linux or have to worry with activation. The only reason Linux isn't pirated is because it's not called stealing if you give it away.

        OSX in its OSx86 format probably has more market share on the PC then it does on a Mac these days. So ask Apple if piracy is a Microsoft only problem.
        ShadowGIATL
        • Nice observation

          [i]The only reason Linux isn't pirated is because it's not called stealing if you give it away[/i].

          I never looked at it that way, but it's true. Good point!
          AllKnowingAllSeeing
    • What? Did your rep get layed off?

      nt
      no_zd_user_name
    • Socialism

      In the stricted of definitions, Schools should not be provided because free education is applied socialism.
      In the rest of the developed world, medicine is included in the same category as education. In France, and many countries, the maximum wait for elective surgery is two weeks. For critical care, it starts the second you walk into the doctor's office or hospital emergency area.

      What has this to do with linux or free software? The problem for every government is the need to keep information for more then one or two releases of a wordprocessor's life. Therefore Open Documentation a la XML is essential for providing a means of so doing.

      If you are opposed to other operating systems, such as Linux, then you remind me of the Henry Ford claim that you can have any car color, as long as it was black. Eventually Ford sales slipped from 85% of the market to 20%. (1920's + )

      Microsoft and Mac are closed systems, Why should foreign countries rely on a product that the USA could leverage against them. Free and Open Software protects the rest of the world.
      lsatenstein@...
  • New massage techniques.

    We already saw this, a new way of massaging the data to keep FF, Linux, Apple, Opera below levels MS does not want publicly known. Theirs is the only place you can find that says FF is less than 20%. Seems to be a very critical glass ceiling some entity doesn't want broken. With Europe at a solid and provably 35-45% FF, 8M certified Ubuntu users (more than 0.8% in and of itself), UMPCs selling like hot dogs (3% marketshare in UK, 5% in Germany sold of all computers are Linux), it seriously won't be long before Net Applications and their "unique methodology" or "opt-in" IIS customers reporting "stats" gets shown for what it is, a simple dog and pony show.

    TripleII
    TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827
    • Whilst they're not accurate...

      ...it demonstrates that Linux has a long way to go before it gets a foothold in the OS market which is a shame because it's actually quite nice.
      Sleeper Service
      • Message has been deleted.

        ^o^
        n0neXn0ne
      • I don't think they even show valid trends.

        Does anyone believe that 2 million of the measly 7.5 million worldwide linux users they pretend exist (it is estimated at between 35 and 60 million Linux users worldwide) blew away Linux in a month?

        I think it is purely a marketing tool, since it is IIS only, opt-in, that is used to pretend that trends still show everything MS related is much much higher than it actually is.

        TripleII
        TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827
        • The problem with hitlist...

          ...is that it's US centric and only counts machines linked up to the web. This rules out a lot of non-US machines and standalone machines.

          I would, however, point out that a lot of these standalone machines are running Windows so I don't think we can say that hitlist favours one OS at the expense of another.
          Sleeper Service
          • You are correct, well sort of ...

            [i]... I don't think we can say that hitlist favours one OS at the expense of another.[/i]

            While it's true that hitlist would not favor one OS over another at that point there's no need since machines with a higher percentage of Linux use, mostly non-us machines and standalone machines, have already been excluded.

            It's very easy to present any statistic in a favorable light without ever having to manipulating the data but by only including or excluding various samples of a population. In other words just change the input to receive the desired output. :)
            MisterMiester
      • Whilst they're not accurate...

        Your figures are for the USA only. In China, Eurasia, Arabic countries, and much of Europe, Microsoft is on the way out. The reason is that Countries cannot be held hostage to Microsoft and the US government (who can tell MS what to do).
        Also, inspection of source code is essential to prove there are no hooks, no built-in spyware, and the like.
        lsatenstein@...
    • You're absolutely correct ...

      [i]Seems to be a very critical glass ceiling some entity doesn't want broken.[/i]

      That ceiling is 90% market share for Windows. Once that support level drops below 90% a psychology effect takes over in the market, which is that Microsoft is no longer the impenetrable fortress of operating systems.

      It's going to happen be it with Linux or Apple, there's little doubt about this. It's just funny because at what point does Net Applications becomes discredited in the wider community sort of like the Bush Administration. ;)

      Edit:

      According to W3Counter the levels for Windows below the 90% mark, however minor, has already been breached:

      http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

      [i]?The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over? - Joseph Goebbels [/i]
      MisterMiester
      • There's one problem with your crystal ball.

        according to the site you've linked to, MS hasn't had 90% going back as far as may 2007.

        Apparently the psychological effect you so assuredly profess isn't broken at 90%?
        rtk
        • Need a cystal ball? Naww, just a calculator ...

          [i]... according to the site you've linked to, MS hasn't had 90% going back as far as may 2007. [/i]

          Windows share from W3counter (all versions)

          May 2007 93.60%
          Jun 2007 93.47%
          Jul 2007 93.52%
          Aug 2007 93.44%
          Sep 2007 93.38%
          Oct 2007 91.46%
          Nov 2007 91.52%
          Dec 2007 91.48%
          Jan 2008 91.34%
          Feb 2008 91.11%
          Mar 2008 91.06%
          Apr 2008 91.17%
          May 2008 91.11%
          Jun 2008 91.05%
          Jul 2008 90.85%
          Aug 2008 [b]89.65%[/b]
          Sep 2008 [b]89.10%[/b]
          Oct 2008 [b]89.86%[/b]

          Do you notice a pattern here? Well if anything at least I can add some numbers, which is more than you can say. ;)
          MisterMiester