Is Microsoft Losing Market Share?
This afternoon I read an article over at TG Daily which reported that Microsoft is losing market share in not only the browser market but also in the operating system arena. We have all read the reports how other browsers have been slowly taking market share away from Internet Explorer. The report states that Internet Explorer has dropped to a nine year low to under 70%. But the report also states that Windows uses has dropped to under 90% which is the lowest in over 15 years.
According to the article it states that:
Windows market share is generally believed to have peaked at 97.5% in the 2002-2003 time frame. Of course, we were interested in finding out about the timeframe when Windows crossed the 90% market share mark on the way up. It turned out that we had to go back quite a bit and if we believe this story published in December 2005 by Ars Technica, then Microsoft cleared the 90% hurdle in 1993 or 1994 with Windows 3.11. On a personal note, this is about the time when this author was first confronted with a Windows PC and was fascinated by the simplicity of the operating system (well, at least from the view of the time back then.)
If we dive a bit deeper in the most recent operating system market share developments, then it is interesting to see that while Vista is now listed with a market share of nearly 20.5%, it is far from being able to pick up the market share older Windows versions are losing. For example, Windows XP lost about 2.4 points (from 68.67% to 66.31%) over the past three months, but Vista gained only 2.1 points (18.33% to 20.45%). And we are talking only about XP here: Windows 2000 lost an additional 0.35 points, Windows NT 0.03 points, Windows 98 0.05 points and Windows Me 0.02 points, according to Net Applications.
Interesting article. This could explain the advertising explosion that we have seen from Microsoft during the past few months. It could also explain the more open approach that Microsoft seems to be taking on their newest operating system Windows 7.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
10 Comments
kr_toronto
December 3rd, 2008
at 6:59am
Wait a minute…
Since when was Windows 3.11 an OS???
You had to run this program on top of DOS – making this a User Interface:
“Later, in 1985, Microsoft Windows was released as Microsoft’s first attempt at providing a consistent user interface (for applications). The early versions of Windows ran on top of MS-DOS and its clones. At first Windows met with little success, but this was also true for most other companies’ efforts as well, for example GEM. After version 3.0 (1990), Windows gained market acceptance.”
Guess the writer isn’t as big of a geek as the rest of us
;);)
Quote taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS#Legacy_compatibility
Chinookman
December 3rd, 2008
at 9:01am
I could care less about M$….much like the auto companies; M$ has insisted to do it “their way”……….so how’s it working out….?
They have both forgotten about customer service and satisfaction. Marginal OS like marginal GM products with low margins and high labor costs does a fine job of keeping me away…….Linux keeps looking better and better and they are now moving in the direction of making it easier for Linux newbies…hooray for them …anyone watching M$…..yeah right…..lol….
Ron Schenone
December 3rd, 2008
at 11:27am
Thanks for the comments. It should be interesting to see how Microsoft responds to this information. There are a lot of unhappy campers out there.
Roelof
December 3rd, 2008
at 11:17pm
Microsoft should be forced by some authority to make certain parts of their OS sourcecode available to other developers, so that another company can come up with an OS that is compatible enough to run (most) Windows software.
It can be done, big companies can be forced to share their knowledge in order to break down what has effectively become a monopoly. Where I live, the national phone company (once state-owned) has been forced to share their network with competitors. I have a DSL subscription which runs over their lines but I don’t have to pay them a cent, I only pay my ISP.
As for Linux, recent developments are promising, but I still do not see a relatively small community of geeks win the fight against the marketing power and big bucks of Microsoft. Same with Firefox. I’m a Firefox user, but according to the figures of my websites it’s stuck at a market share of about ten percent.
El Pelon
December 4th, 2008
at 8:28am
I’m a Firefox user, but according to the figures of my websites it’s stuck at a market share of about ten percent.
Interesting, Roelof. My Firefox share has been better than 20% at the 10 or so sites I manage for better than a year. In fact, it’s nearing 25%, and these are sites of general interest, not for geeks.
Den
December 4th, 2008
at 10:38am
Well,, I Think Microsoft .
Should Get some .. BAIL~~OUT . FREE . money
Ron Schenone
December 4th, 2008
at 12:47pm
Den,
If you are so concerned, send them a personal check! LOL
Den
December 5th, 2008
at 8:36am
As . Soon . As . I . Gets . MY………..
???
……….Spread . The . Wealth . Check…
Yo no uso WIndows « Seamos realistas… pidamos lo imposible
December 7th, 2008
at 7:09pm
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at 5:35am
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