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Just nearly a week and a half after the official consumer launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd, research firm Net Applications has tracked the OS over 3.5 percent of the market as of November 1st. Net Applications collects data based on header information reported from web browsers.
Windows 7, having been soft launched to developers and parts of the IT community, had been tracked to 1.89 percent of usage the day before consumer launch (October 21). By the end of launch day, the number managed to climb to 1.99 percent, and finishing the month with 3.67 percent of total market usage.
In the month of October all versions of Windows made up 92.52 percent usage, Mac OS X had 5.27 percent and Linux at 0.96 percent.
Comments are closed on this article
Jono
November 03, 2009 at 7:31am
Why is this even news? If Windows provides for 95% of the OS market is it really a big deal that less than 5% of the market choses Windows 7? People want a polished experience, and that's why Linux will stay where it's at. So far windows 7 feels like a Vista release to me. I'm hearing plenty about iTunes bugs and thumbnail preview issues, and just way too much hype about backward compatibility and a little performance gain (apart from the longer boot times compared to Vista). As a consumer, if Windows is going to launch a new OS every 2-3 years, shouldn't customers expect to have a bit of backward compatability instead of being wowed into believing it's some glorius feature. You know how annoying it was to follow all these workarounds just to get a system with XP and Vista to talk to each other for a game of starcraft, share music, or a network printer... Way too much effort than it's worth. This does not leave the user with that polished experience. Don't get me started on the whole increased security "feature" that MACs also tote... Sure, if less people use a system it might be safe to assume even less would attempt to muck around and hack such a small playing field. Sorry for the rant. I'll just wait patiently for the early adopters to give the all clear.
JCBarry
November 03, 2009 at 12:26pm
It's news because some might be interested to know the adoption rates of a recently released OS. Plus, it is a look at how Windows 7 has done, given the amount of hype and media coverage it received prior to its release.
Jay Barry
MaxPC Profile | Jason Barry
Jono
November 04, 2009 at 6:00pm
maybe i don't understand the profoundness of the percentages, partly because there's no comparison with the adoption rates of XP and Vista.
Caboose
November 03, 2009 at 9:05am
Every 2-3 years? All the software and hardware that is "Vista Ready" works just fine with Windows 7. The previous Windows release was almost a decade ago! And what thumbnail bugs? I've not heard or read of any. Just the issues with iTunes. But then again, iTunes is a crap app to begin with.
Apple releases a new "OS" (If you can really call it a new OS) every few years. Basically a really expensive service pack. Various Linux distros release new "OS" every few MONTHS (Look at Ubuntu. 2 per year).
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Jono
November 04, 2009 at 6:20pm
vista has been polished a bit since its release and instead if just adding features from windows 7 into vista as service packs we have to buy an entirely "new" OS. I'm just concerned that a whole new operating system might have not been necessary. Try adding a price to each feature and see if it adds up. K.. so new task bar... thats a 10dollar feature.. and if im entirely honest with myself its actually more like a 2dollar feature. Increased security, is around 10-20dollar in my books. I mean I hear the same argument from MACs, so I think its being overplayed. Increased performance is the only note-worthy feature which i would priced based on the percentage increase in performance... 10%-20% increase = $40-60... The point is, it doesnt add up. The additional "perks" of better networking and tools are corrections to Vista's problems.. and while we're happy Microsoft did redeem themselves, do I think it's fair theyre going to charge me again to fix their mistakes? Its like if I bought a new car and watched the salesman punch holes in my tires and tell me i needed a new car.
mesiah
November 02, 2009 at 10:36pm
If only linux could get a truely respectable desktop market share, I would love to see apple put out of business. Theres nothing I hate more than a person or company that thumbs their nose at everyone else. I like rooting for the little guy, but not when the little guy thinks hes better than everyone else.
Dexter243
November 02, 2009 at 10:22pm
Nutcracklng snack
i love my mac and if your not a gamer the first thing i would say is try out a mac you will like it
but as far as windows 7 it is the first windows os that i can say out of the box nice work microsoft
finley got your head out your ass i see
it runs very good and even my acer 1 runs win 7 ult like a dream and i think it is much better then xp on the acer 1 and i not talking about a cut down ver i meen the full blown win 7 ult with 1 gig ram and it runs great
to bad we have to pay for it when we all ready did once when we wher duped in to vista
i so feal like i had to pay twice to get 1 os
well thats life of a gamer . come on mac get it together and make games run better on the mac osx other then that a mac is my first choice
Dexter243
November 02, 2009 at 10:22pm
Nutcracklng snack
i love my mac and if your not a gamer the first thing i would say is try out a mac you will like it
but as far as windows 7 it is the first windows os that i can say out of the box nice work microsoft
finley got your head out your ass i see
it runs very good and even my acer 1 runs win 7 ult like a dream and i think it is much better then xp on the acer 1 and i not talking about a cut down ver i meen the full blown win 7 ult with 1 gig ram and it runs great
to bad we have to pay for it when we all ready did once when we wher duped in to vista
i so feal like i had to pay twice to get 1 os
well thats life of a gamer . come on mac get it together and make games run better on the mac osx other then that a mac is my first choice
fry
November 02, 2009 at 5:39pm
Mac is still only at 5%? Makes you wonder why anyone even talks about them.
Oh, right. They spend an assload on advertising.
DBsantos77
November 02, 2009 at 9:31pm
Good point lol. I recently saw two of their ads: the Windows 7 just works ad, and the fresh start ad. Getting old real fast if you ask me.
-Santos
Caboose
November 02, 2009 at 4:49pm
In a week, the market share that Windows 7 has taken is over half of what Apple has... Thats impressive IMO.
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
lien_meat
November 03, 2009 at 3:37pm
...but also think about this:
Going from Xp or vista to win7 is completely different(way easier) than going from any of those OS's to any other OS. Stuff that runs on windows (and the file formats that those programs use) don't "just work" on other platforms, making a transition harder, and thus way way less likely. If 95% of the market works relatively the same, it's hard for any contender who works even slightly differently (like mac OSX or linux) to intrude on that established market share.For example, if you had BIGNAME cell service, which lets just say had 90% market share, and there was this new, decent (possibly even better in some areas) cell provider. Now you could get almost everything to work great on that new cell service and was completely compatable with BIGNAME, except you couldn't text anyone on BIGNAME, that would be a dealbreaker unless you didn't want to text. It's EXACTLY the same with mac and linux. The little things that don't work with/like the established norm completely ruin the appeal of the platform for the majority of possible users, even if the platform is as good, or even better.
It's just the way things work.
### I'm an idiot, and I approve this message ###
zstadt
November 02, 2009 at 5:15pm
It is. Just give it a few more, and then the Mac weenies will have nothing to brag about.
