HAL must die!

[Chip Camden]

Quoth Jerry on Wednesday, 16 March 2011:
> On Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:29:25 +0000
> Matthew Seaman <m.seaman at infracaninophile.co.uk> articulated:
> 
> > On 16/03/2011 00:37, Jerry wrote:
> > > Microsoft has approximately 90% of the desktop market share with
> > > everyone else dividing up the remainder. If you are on a Microsoft
> > > platform you use their products. The same applies to other platforms
> > > and their utilities.
> > 
> > Microsoft may once have had 90% of the desktop market -- but is that
> > still true?  Macs seem to be everywhere nowadays.
> > 
> > Also, how important is 'desktop' nowadays, compared to mobile browsers
> > and the like?  If the iPhone doesn't support Flash, then anyone with
> > any sense is going to provide an HTML5 alternative.
> 
> There are numerous sites with purport to state the latest statistics
> on OS usage, etc. This is just one that I have used before. I obviously
> cannot verify its accuracy. As far as I can tell, it is an impartial
> assessment.
> 
> http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8
> 

That's interesting and all, but what does such a sampling really tell you?
By contrast, if I look at Google Analytics for the OS makeup of visitors
to chipstips.com, I get only 50% Windows, 44% Mac, 5% Linux, and 1%
Android.  (I'm not sure where *BSD gets classified in that scheme).

So the number you pay attention to is the number that applies to what
you're trying to find out.  If you're looking at trends for investment,
then you need to look at growth/shrinkage rather than fixed market share.
If you're wondering how you should target your applications, then look at
usage (and growth) within your target user base (which may or may not
include home or small business users, for example).  How you obtain those
numbers has to vary depending.

I don't have hard data to back it up, but it seems to me that an awful
lot of Windows users are such merely due to inertia.  More
technologically inclined users (a growing segment) tend (but not
exclusively) to prefer other platforms.  At least, that's what I'm seeing
among my clients, readers, and associates.

-- 
Sterling (Chip) Camden | sterling at camdensoftware.com | 2048D/3A978E4F
http://chipsquips.com  | http://camdensoftware.com   | http://chipstips.com
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