As MacDailyNews reported this weekend (please see related articles below), Aliso Viejo, CA-based Net Applications announced November 2007 Operating System (and Browser) usage stats. With a new, enhanced marketshare site, Net Applications is now able to analyze global marketshare trends in much greater depth.
Net Applications now tracks more trends, summarizes OS versions better, and are now able to view market share by continent, country and even by state/province. Their new Mac OS usage map for the US provided “an immediate visual impact,” Net Applications ask in their December 1st Newsletter.
Net Applications writes, “Higher percentage Mac usage states almost perfectly match up with states that typically vote for Democrats. So, do Democrats prefer Macs? The correlation is striking.”
2004 US presidential election results by state:
(red=Republican, blue=Democrat)
2004 US presidential election results by county:
(red=Republican, blue=Democrat)
Meanwhile, the Mac continues to gain ground in Net Applications measurements of online share. November 2007 usage statistics show that globally, 6.8% of all computers online are Macs. That is the highest percentage Net Applications has seen to date.
More info via Net Applications’ report – “Democrats Vote for the Mac?” – here.
MacDailyNews Note: For what it’s worth:
Apple’s U.S. Retail Store Locations:
Also, via Wikipedia:
Prior to the 2000 presidential election, there was no universally recognized color scheme to represent political parties in the USA. The practice of using colors to represent parties on electoral maps dates back at least as far as the 1950s, when such a format was employed within the Hammond series of historical atlases. Color-based schemes became more widespread with the adoption of color television in the 1960s and nearly ubiquitous with the advent of color in newspapers. A three-color scheme — red, white and blue, the colors of the U.S. flag — makes sense, and the third color, white, is useful in depicting maps showing states that are “undecided” in the polls and in election-night television coverage.
Early on, the most common—though again, not universal—color scheme was to use red for Democrats and blue for Republicans. This was the color scheme employed by NBC—David Brinkley famously referred to the 1984 map showing Reagan’s 49-state landslide as a “sea of blue”, but this color scheme was also employed by most newsmagazines. CBS during this same period, however, used the opposite scheme—blue for Democrats, red for Republicans. ABC was less consistent than its elder network brothers; in at least two presidential elections during this time before the emergence of cable news outlets, ABC used yellow for one major party and blue for the other. As late as 1996, there was still no universal association of one color with one party. If anything, the majority of outlets in 1996 were using blue for the GOP and red for the Democrats.[citation needed]
But in 2000, for the first time, all major electronic media outlets used the same colors for each party: Red for Republicans, blue for Democrats. Partly as a result of this near-universal color-coding, the terms Red States and Blue States entered popular usage in the weeks following the 2000 presidential election…
The choice of colors in this divide is counter-intuitive to many international observers, as throughout the world, red is commonly the designated color for parties representing labor, socialist, and/or liberal interests, which in the United States would be more closely correlated with the Democratic Party. Similarly, blue is used in these countries to depict conservative parties which in the case of the United States would be a color more suitable for the Republicans.
More here.
Oh, and macman, “balancing the budget” by raiding the Social Security Trust does not equal sound fiscal policy. It’s called a Ponzi Scheme in any other environment. What Clinton effectively did was put a big fat IOU in the box for you and I to pay. Thanks a crap load Bubba.
If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.
“I’ll look forward to calling Towertone various slurs, including “racist”, “fascist”, “stupid American”, etc. etc.. And it’s not even my country!”
“Oh ToweTone! Oh TowerTone!
Oh where art thou and thy bigotted comments, TowerTone?”
“In case it’s still not clear, THAT is an ad hominem argument. According to TowerTone, my arguments are wrong because I’m on my “high horse”. He doesn’t even answer the question, he just deflects it with an insult. “
You are nothing if not consistent, Frank. And predictable.
Like I said, you are playing a game that you are ill equipped.
Your next reply will be justification for your statements based on previous arguments.
I just pissed you off royally, didn’t I?
Go ahead, take all the rope you need…….
To TT: Yeah, that’s it! Also, the Jon Lovitz SNL character comes to mind.
Francis: Here’s the really funny and ironic part. You might be right about everything. But it doesn’t matter one whit because you are INCREDIBLY annoying. And that’s the truth.
Come on five pages!
Towertone…
I think Blackwater is exactly the kind of thing about which Frank has a problem!
Let me put something to you without entering into a who voted for what squabble.
People are actually seriously celebrating the fact that, in the most recent statistics, there were only (!) 637 fatalities in the past month; we’ve become so used to the absurd, almost pornographic level of violence and misery that 637 was pointed to as proof that things are truly getting better by the banks of the Tigris.
There’s only one problem: 637 fatalities in Iraq is – if my simple mental arithmetic is correct – equivalent to over 7000 deaths in the USA or nearly 1500 deaths here in the UK. Now, speaking from my particular perspective of sane and rational, if our countries (who jointly bear the most responsibility for this stupid, ill-conceived, badly-planned escapade) were suffering those kind of casualties on our own streets, we’d be writing to our elected representatives in horror and the media would be writing and broadcasting stories about the nightmare of violence and demanding change.
That is the chaos to which Frank is referring: we invaded a country based on lie and with next to no planning for what would happen when the mission was “accomplished”: when planning for the occupation of Germany, Marshall started working out the rules of occupation and the mechanisms for rebuilding what was expected to be chaos in early 1942.
The planners for Iraq’s occupation had a mere three months and, as if it that wasn’t bad enough, had people from the AEI and the like sticking their ideological oars in throughout the process to ensure that Iraq developed as a proper “free-market” economy after the American model (as if that was a key imperative to the Iraqi people, as opposed to being able to go to the market without being blown to smithereens).
Our politicians lied about why the war was necessary then they kept changing the lie to suit the “facts” which existed in any given short-term period. Then politicians from your side of the Atlantic decided to use Iraq as some sort of social experiment.
And all the time we ignore the real root of the problems we need to solve (Islamic extremism sponsored and encouraged by Saudi Wahabbi “religious” philosophy) because – between us – we prefer to suck up to a country whose political system is utterly polarised from the ideals we claim to support.
Let’s be honest: between your government and mine, we managed to take a dysfunctional country governed by a tyrannical autocracy and managed to somehow make it even worse.
And it’s not just my opinion or Frank’s or the majority in your country or mine: the guy who took over one wing of Israel’s intelligence services (I think the military intel) was quoted as saying that, on balance, the invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein had led to a vacuum which had created more long-term problems for the region than it had solved, such as the creation of continuous Shiite sphere of influence from Mashad to Tarabulus.
Think about that statement: a senior Israeli intelligence officer thinks it was either a bad idea executed badly (negligent) or good idea executed badly (incompetent).
If you don’t think that the equivalent of 250 people being murdered each and every day on the streets of America still meets the definition of chaos, I think you need to re-appraise your values to a certain extent.
@TowerTone:
I didn’t write those, so please feel free to discredit those statements. In fact, I discredit them right now. And no, I’m not pissed off. You will note that I have not called you a racist, a fascist, a stupid American, etc.. Yet, at least.
@Ampar:
“You might be right about everything. But it doesn’t matter one whit because you are INCREDIBLY annoying. And that’s the truth.”
That is really the saddest thing I’ve heard in a while. I don’t really care what you say about me or the insults you may hurl, but I do definitely care about what is going on in this world. The fact that you would ignore and dismiss such serious things even though you may recognise them to be true, well, for one thing, it is an admission of cooperative ignorance at the expense of so many lives destroyed, and for another thing, it’s just so vile. You have the ability to stop something terrible, and you make jokes about it. Maybe in 30 years you will regret it, but it disturbs me that right now you are so comfortable with it.
Frank should take a tonal cue from MCCFR. It won’t happen but hey, stranger things have happened.
You’re right, Frank. Democrats do prefer Macs.
“The fact that you would ignore and dismiss such serious things . . .”
You really do have a a reading comprehension problem, btw.
I’m not dismissing the serious problems in the world.
I’m dismissing you. Big, big, huge, enormous difference.
MCCFR
Sorry, but the argument between Frank and the rest of the world has nothing to do with Iraq or our respective governments and has everything to do with Franks’ lack of tact and need for acceptance.
If the war were to have never occurred, then it would be another matter that he would be distorting to simply satisfy his need (from weakness) to demonstrate that he is superior in thought to a simpleton from my neck of the woods.
I don’t really care to get in a pissing contest about the realities of the conflict, it is a bore. Besides, even if I could wave a magic wand (no, not THAT one, Frank) and convince him of anything beyond what his insecurities allow, that would be like throwing a new toy away….
TT,
With the greatest respect, the war may be a bore to you.
But to the 25 million people in Iraq, it is a tragedy to which they wake up every morning. As it is to the families who have lost their sons, daughters, fathers and mothers in the service of your country and mine. Not to mention those who simply came back wounded or maimed, both physically and emotionally and who have been woefully treated by the politicians on their return.
I would be careful about criticising Frank for a lack of tact if that’s your level of sensitivity to those circumstances.
Read carefully, MCCFR. I didn’t say the war was a bore to me. I have followed it very closely since its inception.
I know a young man, a son of a very close friend, who just got over there. Today is the last day to get gifts in the mail for Christmas delivery. This man grew up with my kids, and I am very proud of him. The war is not a bore to me.
Discussing it with people who have a hidden agenda is a bore.
And reciting to others what effect war has on a populace, especially a history buff, whose family had a long line of military service until I broke it, can be taken as a little condescending.
I don’t think you intended that. But it is.
I know several young men and women who have gone to war lately. Every single one of them that has comes back thinks the war was a mistake.
A few of them never came back.
Holy crap. I leave the room for a few minutes and looked what happened…..
Frank please tell me two things:
1) You are doing this only to help Ampar reach 5 pages
2) Your country that you keep mentioning is NOT Canada.
TT,
Condescension is not my aim, but I am concerned that there is a trend to trivialise what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan (which is well on the way to becoming a failed state) in a “success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan” kind of way.
I say this as someone who can see real trouble on the way: I worry that the foreign policy failures and military misadventures of the last several years are going to lead to regional instability in West Asia that will land up hitting us in any number of ways from security to the economy. I think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew, I don’t think we’ve dealt with Islamic extremism and I think we’ve developed some “diplomatic” marriages of convenience with some fairly unpleasant regimes.
And the thing I worry about most is that our actions have effectively given the “new” Russia (same as the old Russia, but with better tailoring and nicer cars) cârte blanche to become a truly unpleasant nation: arrogant, oil-rich, no history of democracy and even less respect for it, contempt for international conventions – including some pretty key ones, administered by former Marxist-Leninist intelligence hacks, run by gangsters (sometimes the same people), you get the picture.
We can’t really take the moral high ground with the new Russia: extraordinary rendition, pre-emptive invasion and spying on our citizens without judicial oversight have all queered our pitch on that front – Putin and his successors will simply tell us to go climb a rope with the added threat of making Europe freeze its nuts off.
And, as a result, I worry about Azerbaijan and Georgia caught in a vice between Russia and Iran.
Such is interconnectedness of all things in the world of Zen politics. Ho hum!
“My country certainly does not. “
Where do you live? Elbonia?
The odd thing, MCCFR, is that none of this is new! The problem with Russia, Islamist terrorist, having to align with unpleasant regimes, are all ongoing, and have been, for decades, and for some, centuries.
As far as losing our rights or freedoms, we are actually in a better situation now. The Feds and locals have ALWAYS watched those that they want, and even while there are MORE ways to keep check on someone, there is also more AWARENESS of that happening. More people watching the ones that are watching.
I don’t for a moment look at the current state of America and think that it is anywhere near as bad off as many believe, especially in light of problems we have overcome in the past.
Are we in perfect form? No, which is about as perfect as America can be.
By following the rules of the Film Actor’s Guild, the world can become a better place; that handles dangerous people with talk, and reasoning; that, is the fag way. One day you’ll all look at the world us actors created and say, “wow, good going, fag. You really made the world a better place, didntcha, fag?”
Last year I went to Iraq. Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles.
Kim Jong Il: Hans Brix? Oh no! Oh, herro. Great to see you again, Hans!
Hans Blix: Mr. Il, I was supposed to be allowed to inspect your palace today, but your guards won’t let me enter certain areas.
Kim Jong Il: Hans, Hans, Hans! We’ve been frew this a dozen times. I don’t have any weapons of mass destwuction, OK Hans?
Hans Blix: Then let me look around, so I can ease the UN’s collective mind. I’m sorry, but the UN must be firm with you. Let me in, or else.
Kim Jong Il: Or else what?
Hans Blix: Or else we will be very angry with you… and we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are.
Kim Jong Il: OK, Hans. I’ll show you. Stand to your reft.
Hmmm, lemme see. Rush Limbaugh LOVES Macs! Oh, and Karl Rove uses an iPhone.
Fact is, the majority of Democrats are Microsoft Windows people.
Are we about to get the “dicks, pussies and assholes” speech?
@ DeltaNick
So, the majority of people who are not Carl Rove use Windows? Your logic has blown my mind.
I am a true fiscal and social conservative and I only use Macs because they are the most productive computers. I think the stats presented have more to do with distribution than anything else.
Look at me! I’m recycling (com)post!!!
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/11581/P0/
hey, where was Ampar during all this?