Vista Market Share Increases

Windows Vista and Mac users are still increasing, and Linux, despite its small percentage, doubled in number last year, research shows.


Vista and Mac Shares Increase
According to a research firm, Windows Vista made its biggest leap yet in November. It was used on nearly one out of ten Internet-connected computers last month.

Vista's exact share rose about one percentage point to 9.19 percent in November, up from 7.94 percent in October, according to Net Applications. In contrast, Vista's predecessor, Windows XP, fell by about one percentage point from 79.41 percent of all Internet-connected computers in October to 78.37 percent in November, according to Net Applications. Meanwhile, the Mac platform's share continued to grow, reaching nearly 7 percent.

Windows' overall share continues to exceed 92 percent, according to the Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based research firm.

Linux was in use on 0.6 percent of PCs worldwide, according to Net Applications. Despite its small share, Linux's slice of the market has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year.
Vista's share has grown from 0.2 percent to 9.2 percent since the beginning of the year. XP's share, meanwhile, has fallen from to 78.4 percent from 85 %at the beginning of the year.

Internet Explorer 7's share continued to grow, reaching nearly 37 percent. It is poised to eclipse its predecessor, IE6, which has fallen more than 14 percentage points since the beginning of the year, to 40.2 percent. Altogether, IE was in use on 77.4 percent of Internet-connected computers, down from 80 percent at the beginning of the year.

IE's main competition, Firefox, held a 16 percent share of all Internet-connected computers. That's up from 13.7 percent at the beginning of the year.

Apple Inc.'s Safari held 5.1 percent, up from 4.7 percent at the beginning of the year.

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