Microsoft has almost had a monopoly on the operating system market since the start of the PC, something it has been sued over many times. Its Windows operating system is close to synonymous with PCs and the users that choose other operating systems often turn to various Linux distributions. Even if Windows is still the supreme market leader the market share has been dropping under 2008 and during November it has hit the lowest share in 15 years.
Analysts at Net Applications says that Microsoft has hit a “low” of 89.62% in November. This is the lowest number since Windows 3.11, which does say a bit about the dominance of Microsoft.
The number of Windows users have been dropping steadily since 2003/2004,from the high of 96.4% in 2004, but there is still no doubt who is controlling the PC market.
The winners are pf course other operating system, Linux and Mac OS X mainly, which are slowly gaining market shares;
“Of course, the market share loss benefits other operating systems, especially Mac OS X and Linux. Net Applications estimates that Apple’s Mac OS X now holds 8.87%, up from 6.80% in November of last year and up from 3.2% in November 2004. Linux is listed with a 0.83% share, which is up from 0.57% one year ago. In November 2004, Linux’ market share was estimated at 0.30%.”
