Windows over Snow Leopard or Mac over PCs?
Before Mac users get up in arms over my headline, I could have just as easily used, “Best desktop Macs sales ever.” It's a numbers game all the way around.
Windows 7 News and Tips has recently reported that, “In its first month on sale the market share for Windows 7 has surpassed the total market share for OS X...It’s a clear indication that sales of Windows 7 are storming ahead.”
Simultaneously, BetaNews proclaims, “Nearly half the money spent at US retail on desktop PCs goes to Apple.” They go on to state that, “In October, Mac US retail desktop computer revenue share was 47.71...It's a stunning number, given just how many Windows PC companies combined command so much more market share, while competing for the same revenue share.”
So is it Windows 7 over Snow Leopard? Or Macs over PCs? Business users should understand that one side or the other being the top dog really depends on how you slice and dice the statistics.
Look at my business as an example:
- Copies of Snow Leopard purchased since its launch: four
- Copies of Windows 7 (various versions) bought since its launch: three
It has been said that, "50% of statistics can be made to say anything 90% of the time." With this statement in mind, for my business here's the most revealing statistic of all:
- Numbers of desktops, laptops, servers and netbooks (any manufacturer) bought since launch of either Snow Leopard or Windows 7: zero
I may be buying applications and Operating Systems, but I am not buying hardware. The economy just doesn't permit it—at least not right now.
Whether my business computing needs are typical or not, I can't say. What I can say is that I take these kinds of news items with a healthy grain of salt. Furthermore, I am somewhat agnostic in my business computing use. True, I prefer Macintosh and OS X for a variety of reasons, but I also use Windows XP, Windows 7 and a number of PCs in my business. Whatever is at hand and whatever suits my fancy at the time seems to work just fine for me.
Comments
I think the working phrase here is 'Pent Up', as in pent up desire to move on from 7 (or 8?) year old XP to another decent version of Windows (as opposed to Vista).
Meanwhile, Snow Leopard is souped up Leopard, two years after Leopard, Intel only, no PPC Macs allowed. Not exactly a must have.
Moving along from sales numbers to OS quality: The article's headline would be hard core cognitive dissonance. That would not compute.
;-)
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