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Microsoft Windows: 90.62% OS Market Share

It has been a very long time since my last post - 1 year and 3 days.  I have been extremely busy with my work in technology - always learning and growing - helping customers - completing technical projects for businesses and residential customers.  When I am not so busy working in my field, I will soon continue to publish technical information that could help others whom are also working on technical projects involving Microsoft Windows.  In this post however, I would like to talk about Operating System Market Share.  In other words, I would like to speak factually about the percentage of people throughout the world using a specific operating system.

Over the past few years, I have noticed an increase in the amount of website articles directed at promoting Apple products over Microsoft products - or periodically Linux products over Microsoft products.  It has been my observation that many of these websites are often more about the writer of the article and his or her agenda - than about relating technical information.  In other words, the article is often purely subjective rather than citing sources to backup the statements being made in the article.  This practice has become all too common - perhaps beyond the world of computer journalism - perhaps to all facets of journalism today.  Perhaps it is not possible to compose an article that is not without a certain level of subjectivity in its viewpoint.  Each of us reach varying conclusions when collecting information - and I must admit that I am a long-time admirer of Microsoft Windows.  This article then may be just as subjective as others - sources have not always been cited.  However, I believe the facts noted speak for themselves.

In all things, my personality is one that I like to lift up the hood and see what is really going on.  I like the straight scoop - dealing with facts - identifying and isolating sources of information and making statements that are - to the best of my ability - accurate.  This is an important component of writing because one does not want to look ignorant or ill-informed.  Of course right or wrong is subjective and there is nothing wrong with being wrong - we simply need to learn from our mistakes and grow upward.  In fact, being wrong is the process from which we gain experience and knowledge.  Therefore, the future may prove me wrong - but it is my impression the computer market place is not in some great upheaval as many computer journalists communicate to the world.  In fact, things are as they have always been.  The major players of the computer world are all the same - the only change has been a significant down turn in the American economy.  This downturn in the American economy results in fewer businesses and individuals purchasing computers.  That is all - nothing shocking here or unexpected.  Additionally, existing computer systems are more stable and last longer.  Microsoft continues to own 90.62% of the Operating System Market Share throughout the world.  Apple Mac OSX has 7.69%.  Linux has 1.48%.  (Source: Wikipedia)

The primary difference between Microsoft Windows and all other operating systems is that it meets the needs of Everyone.  It is not designed for a specific subset of American culture such as College Kids or Musicians or Desktop Publishers or Night Club DJs.  It is not designed specifically for hosting Websites.  It is primarily designed to meet the needs of Everyone - a vast number of users throughout the world working on projects at home and business.  There are more than 4 million Windows Applications to serve this purpose.  (Source: Microsoft)  I believe the closest competitor has one million.  Of these Windows Applications, many are specifically designed for enterprise business environments and are only available for Microsoft Windows.  This is likely due to the fact that Microsoft Windows employs a number of unique and powerful programming languages to meet the needs of Windows Application developers.

Critics will then often mention the Speed, Stability or Security of Microsoft Windows.  Speed would be defined by hardware and processor utilization - a metric that would not be largely different from one operating system to another.  The only difference being the process being executed and how it was designed/programmed.  Stability - well, I will admit Windows could be unstable at times from 1992 to 2000 but since then it has been incredibly stable.  Security is defined by the configuration of computer security both in the operating system and in the physical environment where the computer resides.  If the user of the computer disables or compromises the security of the operating system - or the user of the computer installs the computer in an environment without following network security protocols - the computer will of course be open to attack - just as any other operating system would be open to attack.  I believe it is only because Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating system in the world - the issue of Security comes up at all.  An operating system that is so highly utilized throughout the world is going to be examined and re-examined.  No doubt flaws will be identified which hackers can then attempt to exploit.  Clearly, Microsoft is dedicated to maintaining a high level of Security and Stability annually publishing Windows Updates to address Security and Stability issues that have been internally and externally identified.  Over the past several years, they have also introduced a number of Security Features within the operating system which have greatly expanded the Security of Microsoft Windows.

Based on the facts mentioned in this article which have not been addressed by competing operating systems, I believe Microsoft will continue to dominate the computer world for many years to come.

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