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Usage share of operating systems

 
Wikipedia: Usage share of operating systems
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Usage share of web client operating systems. Source: Median values from Usage share of operating systems.      Windows XP (63.89%)      Windows Vista (22.98%)      Mac OS X (5.12%)      Windows 7 (3.77%)      Linux (1.00%)      Windows 2000 (0.62%)      iPhone (0.54%)      Other (1.00%)

Different categories of computers use a wide variety of operating systems, and the usage share varies enormously from one category to another. For instance, desktop and laptop computers used for web browsing are dominated by Microsoft Windows, which has a usage share estimated to be around 90%, while Linux is quoted to have a share around 1%. In contrast, the complete reverse is true for the fastest supercomputers.

Information about operating systems share is difficult to obtain. In most of the categories below, there is no reliable primary source or methodology for its collection.

Contents

Desktop and laptop computers

There is little published information on the usage share of desktop and laptop computers. Web client information (see below) is often used as a proxy for this, but many such computers are not used for web surfing. Web client stats suggest that Microsoft Windows has about a 91% share, Apple Mac OS 6% and Linux 1%, but the estimates are believed to have a heavy US bias, among other problems.

Steve Ballmer of Microsoft estimates Linux's share of desktop users to be higher than the web stats suggest. In a speech to investors in February 2009, Ballmer presented a slide based on Microsoft's research: it shows Linux's share of business and home PCs about the same as Apple's.[1][2]

A Forrester Research study of corporate desktop operating systems in 2009[3] found that:

“ Windows XP, while still king, is finally beginning its long-anticipated decline in the corporate PC market. Picking up ground are both Windows Vista, which now powers approximately 12% of Windows PCs, and Mac OS X, which has ramped up to an impressive 3.6%. ”

Web clients

Information on web clients can be obtained from the User agent information supplied to web servers by, typically, web browsers. This is an inexact science, for a variety of reasons: for a discussion on the shortcomings see Usage share of web browsers.

The most recent data from various published sources during the last 12 months is summarised in the table below.

Source Date Microsoft Windows Apple Linux Other[4] Sources
7 Vista XP 2000 All versions Mac iPhone
AT Internet Institute Aug. 2009 0.80% 29.13% 59.83% 92.80% 4.93% 0.75% 1.00% 0.52% [1][5]
Net Applications Nov. 2009 4.00% 18.55% 69.05% 0.69% 92.52% 5.12% 0.36% 1.00% 1.00% [2][3]
StatCounter Nov. 2009 4.05% 22.98% 65.71% 0.42% 93.98% 4.96% 0.38% 0.72% 0.34% [4]
StatOwl Nov. 2009 3.53% 30.37% 63.89% 0.78% 88.52% 10.97% 0.40% 0.11%

[5]
W3 Counter Nov. 2009 4.54% 21.73% 57.57% 0.54% 85.69% 7.46% 0.54% 1.80% 4.51% [6][6]
Wikimedia Nov. 2009 3.54% 25.90%[7] 57.45%[7] 0.86% 88.18% 6.75% 1.00% 1.55% 2.52% [7][8]
Median Nov. 2009 3.77% 24.44% 61.86% 0.69% 90.52% 5.94% 0.54% 1.00% --- ---

All of the sources in the above table break down the Microsoft Windows share by version. Mac OS X is broken down by three of them and they all show that version 10.5 (Leopard) is used by over half of Mac OS X users. Wikimedia and StatOwl break down the Linux share and indicate that Ubuntu is by far the most popular distribution, accounting for 46% and 48% of Linux users respectively.

Netbooks

The netbook market has been dominated by Windows XP, with Linux in second place.

Initially, Linux dominated the netbook market when Asus started it with the Eee PC in October 2007, but this lead did not last long. Asus and Acer, which accounted for 90% of the early netbook market, installed Linux on 30% of their machines.[9]

Microsoft responded by extending the life of XP. Figures from NPD Group showed Windows with over a 90% share of netbooks sold in the US between November 2008 and January 2009.[10]

In November 2009, an analyst at ABI said that of the 35 million netbooks to ship globally in 2009, 68% will have Windows and 32% Linux.[11]

Servers

Numbers for server operating system usage are hard to obtain. Research companies track server market share by revenue rather than by usage. Two prominent research organizations - International Data Corporation (IDC) and Gartner reported very different figures:

Source Date Microsoft Windows Linux Unix References
IDC Q3 2009 43.0% 14.8% 26.9% [12]
Gartner 2007 66.8% 23.2% 6.8% [13][14]

An alternative method is to measure usage share by tracking operating system at publicly accessible Web servers. According to a Netcraft survey in January 2008,[15] which checked 794,008 sites with valid SSL certificates, the following percentages were reported:

Microsoft Windows Linux BSD Solaris Unknown
41.29% 38.48% 4.11% 2.57% 9.67%

Mobile devices

Market share of Smartphone operating systems as of Q2/2009 by Canalys.[16] (data does not include Palm WebOS, which was introduced in June, 2009)

Operating systems that can be found on smartphones include Symbian OS, iPhone OS, RIM's BlackBerry, Windows Mobile (marketed as Windows phone), Linux, Palm WebOS and Android. Android and WebOS are in turn built on top of Linux, and the iPhone OS is derived from the BSD and NeXTSTEP operating systems, which all are related to Unix.

The most common operating systems (OS) used in smartphones by Q2 2009 sales are:

Symbian OS from Symbian Ltd. (50.3% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[16]
Symbian has the largest share in most markets worldwide, but lags behind other companies in the relatively small but highly visible North American market.[17] This matches the success of its largest shareholder[18] and customer, Nokia, in all markets except Japan. Nokia itself enjoys 52.9% of the smartphone market.[19] In Japan Symbian is strong due to a relationship with NTT DoCoMo, with only one of the 44 Symbian handsets released in Japan coming from Nokia.[20] It is used by many major handset manufacturers, including BenQ, LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.[21] Various implementations of user interfaces on top of Symbian (most notable being UIQ and Nokia's own S60) are incompatible, which along with the requirement that applications running on mobile phones be signed[22] is hindering the potential for a truly widely accepted mobile application platform. It has received some adverse press attention due to virus threats (namely trojan horses).[23]
RIM BlackBerry operating system (20.9% Market Share Sales Q4 2009)[16]
This OS is focused on easy operation and was originally designed for business. Recently it has seen a surge in third-party applications and has been improved to offer full multimedia support.
iPhone OS from Apple Inc. (13.7% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[16]
The iPhone uses an operating system called iPhone OS, which is derived from Mac OS X. Third party applications were not officially supported until the release of iPhone OS 2.0 on July 11th 2008. Before this, "jailbreaking" allowed third party applications to be installed, and this method is still available.
Windows Mobile from Microsoft (9% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[16][24]
The Windows CE operating system and Windows Mobile middleware are widely spread in Asia. The two improved variants of this operating system, Windows Mobile 6 Professional (for touch screen devices) and Windows Mobile 6 Standard, were unveiled in February 2007. Windows Mobile benefits from the low barrier to entry for third-party developers to write new applications for the platform.[citation needed] It has been criticized for having a user interface which is not optimized for touch input by fingers; instead, it is more usable with a stylus. However, unlike iPhone OS, it does support both touch screen and physical keyboard configurations.
Android from Google Inc. (2.8% Market Share Sales Q2 2009)[16]
Android was developed by Google Inc.. Android is an Open Source, Linux-derived platform backed by Google, along with major hardware and software developers (such as Intel, HTC, ARM, and eBay, to name a few), that form the Open Handset Alliance.[25] This OS, though very new, already has a cult following among programmers eager to develop apps for its flexible, Open Source, back end.[26] Android promises to give developers access to every aspect of the phone's operation.[27] This lends many to foresee the promise of further growth for the Android platform.[28]
Linux operating system
Linux is strongest in China where it is used by Motorola, and in Japan, used by DoCoMo.[29][30] Rather than being a platform in its own right, Linux is used as a basis for a number of different platforms developed by several vendors, including Android, LiMo, Maemo, Openmoko and Qt Extended, which are mostly incompatible.[31][32] PalmSource (now Access) is moving towards an interface running on Linux.[33] Another platform based on Linux is being developed by Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung, and Vodafone.[34]
Palm webOS from Palm Inc. and Palm OS/Garnet OS from Access Co.
Palm webOS is Palm's next generation operating system.[35] PalmSource traditionally used its own platform developed by Palm Inc. Access Linux Platform (ALP) is an improvement that was planned to be launched in the first half of 2007. It will use technical specifications from the Linux Phone Standards Forum. The Access Linux Platform will include an emulation layer to support applications developed for Palm-based devices.
bada from Samsung Electronics
The bada mobile phone operating system is still in development, and Samsung expects handsets to be available in the second half of 2010.[36]
Maemo from Nokia
Limo

Supercomputers

The TOP500 project lists and ranks the 500 fastest supercomputers that submit benchmark results. It then publishes the collected data twice a year. The November 2009 figures show Linux in the lead at 89.2%, followed by IBM AIX at 4.4%, Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008 at 1.0% and OpenSolaris at 0.4%. A use of mixed operating systems accounts for 4.6%, and others account for 0.4%.[37][38]

Mainframes

The mainframe computer market is dominated by IBM System z hardware. Operating systems for this include IBM's proprietary z/OS, Linux on System z and OpenSolaris for System z.

Gartner reported at the end of 2008 that Linux was used on approximately 28% of the "customer z base" and that they expected this to increase to over 50% in the following five years.[39]

Of Linux, Red Hat and Novell compete to sell RHEL and SLES on System z. Prior to 2006, Novell claimed a market share of 85% or more. Red Hat has since claimed 18.4% in 2007 and 37% in 2008.[40] Gartner reported at the end of 2008 that Novell had an 80% share of mainframe Linux.[39]

Notes and references

  1. ^ Wilcox, Joe (2009-02-24). "Microsoft CEO Scoffs at Mac Share Gains". eweek.com. http://blogs.eweek.com/applewatch/content/macbook/microsoft_ceo_scoffs_at_mac_share_gains.html. 
  2. ^ Holwerda, Thom (2009-02-25). "Ballmer: Linux Bigger Competitor than Apple". osnews.com. http://www.osnews.com/story/21035/Ballmer_Linux_Bigger_Competitor_than_Apple. 
  3. ^ "Corporate Desktop Operating System Trends, Q3 2008 To Q2 2009". Forrester Research. 2009-07-22. http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,47703,00.html. 
  4. ^ Always calculated by subtracting the sum of Windows, Apple and Linux shares from 100%.
  5. ^ Mean value of AT Internet Institute's figures for France, Germany, Spain and UK.
  6. ^ W3Counter report is based on the last 15,000 page views to each of 30,188 website tracked
  7. ^ a b Wikimedia stat for Vista includes Server 2008; XP includes Server 2003.
  8. ^ Wikimedia uses 1:1000 sampling of its logs when deriving the usage numbers
  9. ^ Culpan, Tim; Bass, Dina (2008-11-06). "Microsoft Missing Netbook Growth as Linux Wins Sales (Update2)". Bloomberg.com. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a3VyE_ofSwwE&refer=news. 
  10. ^ Gralla, Preston (2009-03-03). "Study: Windows clobbers Linux on netbooks with over 90% share". computerworld.com. http://blogs.computerworld.com/study_windows_clobbers_linux_on_netbooks_with_over_90_share. 
  11. ^ Lai, Eric (2009-11-04). "Linux's share of netbooks surging, not sagging, says analyst". computerworld.com. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140343/Linux_s_share_of_netbooks_surging_not_sagging_says_analyst. 
  12. ^ "Worldwide Server Market Stabilizes in Third Quarter, Exhibiting Signs of Improvement for Fourth Quarter and Beyond, According to IDC". IDC. 2009-12-02. http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?sessionId=&containerId=prUS22100809. 
  13. ^ "Dataquest Insight: Operating System Software Market Share Analysis, Worldwide, 2007". Gartner. http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=158783. 
  14. ^ Wakabayashi, Daisuke (2008-02-27). "Microsoft sees Windows gaining server market share". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/ousivMolt/idUSN2748543820080228. 
  15. ^ "Operating System Software used at Sites in January 2008". http://news.netcraft.com/SSL-Survey/CMatch/osdv_all. 
  16. ^ a b c d e f McLean, Prince (21 August 2009). "Canalys: iPhone outsold all Windows Mobile phones in Q2 2009". AppleInsider. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/08/21/canalys_iphone_outsold_all_windows_mobile_phones_in_q2_2009.html. Retrieved 21 September 2009. 
  17. ^ Dennis, Tony (2006-10-18). "Clifford says Symbian will conquer US". The Inquirer. http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=35179. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  18. ^ Symbian Shareholders
  19. ^ "Highlights from the Canalys Q3 2008 research". Canalys. 2008-02-05. http://www.canalys.com/pr/2008/r2008112.htm. 
  20. ^ Symbian Facts
  21. ^ Symbian Licensees
  22. ^ Symbian Signed
  23. ^ Thomson, Iain (2005-04-05). "Mobile virus moves to new level". v3.co.uk. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2127090/mobile-virus-moves-level. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  24. ^ Kolakowski, Nicholas (2009-09-28). "CEO Ballmer Reportedly Says Microsoft 'Screwed Up' with Windows Mobile". eWeek. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Windows/Microsoft-CEO-Steve-Ballmer-Says-Company-Screwed-Up-Windows-Mobile-241614/. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  25. ^ "Open Handset Alliance: members". http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  26. ^ Lawson, Stephen (2008-05-29). "Developers Praise Android at Google I/O". pcworld.com. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146450/developers_praise_android_at_google_io.html?tk=rl_noinform. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  27. ^ "Google Projects for Android". http://code.google.com/android/. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  28. ^ Topolsky, Joshua (2008-10-16). "T-Mobile G1 review, part 2: software and wrap-up". engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/16/t-mobile-g1-review-part-2-software-and-wrap-up/. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  29. ^ Shipping Linux-based Phones at Technology News Daily
  30. ^ Microsoft Excluded from DoCoMo at The Register
  31. ^ Incompatibility in Mobile Linux at OS News
  32. ^ Search Mobile Computing
  33. ^ Running on Linux
  34. ^ Motorola Press Release on Partnership on Linux Platform
  35. ^ Palm webOSdev Overview
  36. ^ "Samsung launches bada open mobile OS". Electonista. 9 November 2009. http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/09/samsung.bada.to.rival.android.linux/. 
  37. ^ "Operating system Family share for 11/2009". Top 500 project. http://top500.org/stats/list/34/osfam. 
  38. ^ "Operating System share for 11/2009". Top 500 project. http://top500.org/stats/list/34/os. 
  39. ^ a b "Vendor Rating: Novell, 2008". Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00162399. 2008-12-23. http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/novell/vol3/article1/article1.html. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
  40. ^ Claybrook, Bill (2009-09-01). "Red Hat bolsters Linux for mainframes, tries to catch Novell". SearchDataCenter.com. http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid80_gci1366811,00.html. Retrieved 2009-11-23. 
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