Microsoft’s Windows continues to lose share to Apple’s Macintosh

“Microsoft Corp.’s operating system continued its downward trend, a Web measurement company reported yesterday,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. “Meanwhile, Apple Inc.’s Mac OS X posted gains for the third month in a row, edging even closer to a 10% share, according to data from Net Applications Inc.”

“In January, 88.3% of the people who browsed the Web sites that Net Applications monitors did so using machines powered by Windows, a 0.42 percentage point drop from December. In the past 90 days, Windows has lost 2.2 percentage points, its steepest three-month slide in the four years that Net Applications has collected operating system data via the Web,” Keizer reports.

“But while Windows slid, Mac OS continued to gain share. Although January’s increase of 0.3 of a percentage point was less than half the record boost that Mac OS X got in December, it marked the third month running that Apple’s operating system grew its market share,” Keizer reports.

“Just as Windows set a record for a three-month decline, Mac OS X set a record for a three-month increase between November 2008 and January 2009. Those months’ combined gain of 1.7 percentage points was 70% larger than the earlier record, a 1 percentage point boost that Mac OS X received in September-November 2006,” Keizer reports. “Mac OS X ended January with a 9.9% market share.”

Full article here.