* Snow Leopard Adoption Rate

Several Apple websites have been looking at their analytics and the seemingly rapid Snow Leopard adoption rate.  While this is fairly normal for Mac users who also happen to read blogs, it stands in stark contrast to Windows users. A look at my own numbers (which are, admittedly, much, much lower than Gruber's) confirms that while Snow Leopard is the most popular Mac OS right now, XP is still the the most popular Windows operating system, by a whole lot. Windows 7 has yet to show up on any of my graphs, but that may be a Google problem.

Of course, the first thing you would note is that most businesses chose to ignore Vista, so a lot of traffic would be from XP. While this is true, and I'm willing to bet the Vista adoption rate is much higher for the general public, it doesn't account for a nearly three year old article by Harry McCracken in which the XP/Vista numbers are nearly identical to what I'm seeing today. In three years, have the numbers not changed? (Granted, comparing analytics like this is like comparing apples to pajamas in many cases.)

Whatever the case, it seems quite remarkable that Apple users upgrade their OS, even with reports of it not being too impressive, pretty much on demand (hardware allowing). Even the price seems to not matter, as Gruber shows for 10.4 and 10.3.

Below are my own analytics graphs. The first is total operating systems, the second is OS X only, and the third is Windows.

     
Click here to download:
Snow_Leopard_Adoption_Rate.zip (113 KB)

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Filed under  //   Apple   Mac   Microsoft   Windows  

Zune HD's Browser Keyboard Looks Terrible

via news.cnet.com

Read the article, which is a bit of slam on the Zune HD browser, but especially look at that keyboard. How is it usable?

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Filed under  //   Microsoft   Zune  

Microsoft's Zune HD Could Be Too Little, Too Late

the latest Zune likely faces a continued struggle against Apple, and the improved functionality may be too little too late, analysts say. According to figures from market research firm NPD Group, Apple had 73% of the market in June 2009, while Microsoft had just 2%.
via money.cnn.com

Two things about Zune HD. First, it looks like a nice piece of hardware that is a long time coming. It's a lot different from the iPod Touch, it's chief competitor. I'm sure it will sell well, even though it doesn't appear to have apps yet (although there was that rumor of XBox Live Arcade games being available for the Zune HD).

Second, and much worse for Microsoft, is that Apple will probably update the iPod Touch in a few weeks. The new Touch won't look any different, except for a camera, but will probably have lower prices and a top of the line 64GB model. If you take apps, a camera (capable of video), iPod, and hopefully HD video out, the Touch beats the Zune hands down.

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Filed under  //   Apple   iPod   Microsoft   Zune  

About

Mike Frizzell is a well known expert on a variety of subjects, including minutiae, trivia, and the acting career of Tim Rose (aka Admiral Ackbar).