On 03/17/11 01:27, Chip Camden wrote:
Quoth Jerry on Wednesday, 16 March 2011:
On Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:29:25 +0000
Matthew Seaman<m.sea...@infracaninophile.co.uk> articulated:
On 16/03/2011 00:37, Jerry wrote:
Microsoft has approximately 90% of the desktop market share with
everyone else dividing up the remainder. If you are on a Microsoft
platform you use their products. The same applies to other platforms
and their utilities.
Microsoft may once have had 90% of the desktop market -- but is that
still true? Macs seem to be everywhere nowadays.
Also, how important is 'desktop' nowadays, compared to mobile browsers
and the like? If the iPhone doesn't support Flash, then anyone with
any sense is going to provide an HTML5 alternative.
There are numerous sites with purport to state the latest statistics
on OS usage, etc. This is just one that I have used before. I obviously
cannot verify its accuracy. As far as I can tell, it is an impartial
assessment.
http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8
That's interesting and all, but what does such a sampling really tell you?
By contrast, if I look at Google Analytics for the OS makeup of visitors
to chipstips.com, I get only 50% Windows, 44% Mac, 5% Linux, and 1%
Android. (I'm not sure where *BSD gets classified in that scheme).
BSD/Unix would either be compiled in with linux, or in the "other"
category- usually the former, especially given the linux compatibility
which gets used more than native for browsers.
So the number you pay attention to is the number that applies to what
you're trying to find out. If you're looking at trends for investment,
then you need to look at growth/shrinkage rather than fixed market share.
If you're wondering how you should target your applications, then look at
usage (and growth) within your target user base (which may or may not
include home or small business users, for example). How you obtain those
numbers has to vary depending.
I don't have hard data to back it up, but it seems to me that an awful
lot of Windows users are such merely due to inertia. More
technologically inclined users (a growing segment) tend (but not
exclusively) to prefer other platforms. At least, that's what I'm seeing
among my clients, readers, and associates.
But as mentioned in another post, the more technical may play with their
UA settings to achieve compatibility.
The trends would show a large number of mobile users due to a tablet
boom- which most appear to be ignoring. Better to stick to recognised
standards and be aware of the legal implications of failing to recognise
the _whole_ community- if someone with disabilities can sue government
entities and win on accessibility arguments, then the same would be true
of platforms for interaction. Take a hint- it'll be cheaper in the long
run...
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