Since Vista Linux adoption has gone up less then a fifth of a percent. Apple's market share is no better then it was over a decade ago back in 1996 when Jobs came back. I'd say that Vista has totally destroyed Microsoft from those figures. /sarcasm

...and Apple is laughing at your sarcasm, all the way to the bank. The one truth about statistics is that they can be skewed (manipulated) in favor of any given perspective. The truth of the matter is that for the calendar year 2007, Apple ranked number four in new computer sales for the US (per Gartner and IDC--see the January 17, 2008 PCWorld article, "Apple Growth Spurt Continues"). Only HP, Dell, and Acer sold more units in the same period.

Still snickering? Well, let's put that comment into perspective. The figures mean Apple sold more computers than any single of the following companies: Gateway, Toshiba, Lenovo, Panasonic, and Asus. They show Apple saw US sales growth between 28% (Gartner) and 30% (IDC). Also, while it may mean Apple's market share is, in percentages, no better than in '96 that share equates to many millions more units. Apples 5.7% share worked out to approximately 3.6 million units. That's nothing to sneeze at and represents enough numbers to justify software makers investiment of time and manhours to produce programs for the Mac platform. Last, but not least, when we consider the market share was by a single computer maker, in a market that's deemed dominated by Windows, it becomes more evident that Apple is a serious player in the computing world.

Oh... almost forgot. The 28% to 30% growth shown by Apple was greater than either of the three makers at the top of the sales list. HP saw 14.9%, Dell saw 9.3%, and Acer saw 10.7% (from Gartner's US PC sales figures). If the trend continues, Apple could easily see itself climb even higher up the ladder of system sales and market share. If Windows users continue to be disheartened with Vista (which in spite of the Vista cheering section, they are still disheartened), it could well help Apple to win a bigger piece of the pie.

One last point. On the subject of skewed figures, we have to remember that in the middle of '07 Acer acquired Gateway (and as such, eMachines and Packard Bell) which pushed them into the number three sales slot for that year. Had such not been the case, Apple would have owned the third place slot for US sales.

I've been using computer for more than 16 years. Over these 16 years I've seen how MS grows from 3.11 to Vista. I have to admit MS was a superior OS in the past. But now it's all about choice. I've been using linux since RedHat was version 5.1 and I also watch it grows along with other linux distros. I use linux mostly for running MUD server, Website server and Email server. I ran into alot linux complication using desktop every year i.e ( no driver for the hardware), no Flash and no Java. Every year I have to switch it back to Windows OS after giving linux desktop a try. Not until 1 1/2 year ago I completely switch to linux. At that point i started to realized that linux is mature for desktop. All problems I've accounted before had vanished. I bought PCI linksys wifi card and stick it into my linux and it recognized right away. Now I have more confident using my linux. I still do use Windows but now I have a choice to choose. Check out Asus SPLASHTOP boot up with linux in 5 secs.

When I replaced my well aged ibm t21 or 22 laptop with my gateway laptop I could have dropped 2 plus gran instead I drop $599.99. I got a great laptop back pack to go with it cheap. this laptop should run me about 5 to 7 years at some point I will need a new desk top but I have need one long before I even thought of upgrading my laptop.

Does sound like you've done ok. Good work! You're off to a good start...better than most.

I've accumulated a few assets over the years too, not just a couple of cars. Do you own your home? I do...the one I live in and fourteen rentals...they're all paid for. How about investments? Do you have any yet? I'm 13 years away from retirement age, but I could stop working today if I chose to. So don't throw your money management prowess at me, like I said you're off to a good start...but you have a ways to go. Now back to the computer upgrade discussion.

Your quote, "WTF. If you're having so much trouble as to complain about not being able to do something then it IS TIME to spend the cash to upgrade.". Where the hell did you think I was having trouble? Did you even read my response? Do you pay that kind of attention in school too or is there a problem with comprehension? I'm not having any trouble running anything and I certainly don't think that computers are a waste of money! I use my computer daily for writing, financial management & analysis including trading stocks and funds, email, research, contact management, photography, keeping up with current events and more. My point is people don't need to upgrade every two or three years to the newest and shiniest model. People have different needs. I know a few people that are still using Pentium III's that run some lite version of Linux and they're getting everything they need out of their systems. Are they wrong to be doing that? No, they don't need anything else. As for me I have Windows XP Pro on my laptop (2 year old Dell), Ubuntu Linux on my desktop (3 year old home built) and Ubuntu Linux Server on my server (four year old home built). They're all working great for me and I have no need to spend a couple of thousand dollars upgrading everything to Vista or in the servers case MS Server 2008. I'm not going to get a good, here's a good business term to remember, 'Return On Investment'. Here is the question to ask yourself. By upgrading to Vista and all it's hardware requirements am I going to be able to do my work faster and more efficiently? Am I going to be able to type a letter in a word processor faster? Send a email quicker? Browse the internet faster? You could ask yourself many more questions but

If(Answers==no)
{
Don't buy;
}
else
{
Do buy;
}

I don't necessairily believe that Vista being a screwup drove people to Linux, I think it is and has already made more people decide to stick with Windows XP. I also think that it has had some effect on who's using Linux now. It has probably dirven some people to Linux but definitely not many.

Zachary

---

zachdude1094

butlerwm wrote: Apples 5.7% share worked out to approximately 3.6 million units. That's nothing to sneeze at and represents enough numbers to justify software makers investiment of time and manhours to produce programs for the Mac platform.

Yes, Apple sales have increased an enormous amount; however, what caused it? Maybe it could be that you can now run windows functionality under OS-X to run any windows program you want. Now why would a software developer worry about writing a native version of their software for OS-X instead of spending that time on writing a new program that can run under both OS-X (sub-program under windows) and windows. If they write a native version of an old program, that will just increase their support requirements since they now have to support the software under 2 different OS's. . . . and what will be their incremental sales dollars by doing this? Remember, software companies, like hardware manufacturers, develop product for increased sales and profits (actually profits and sales is a more correct statement). Profit is equal to all costs, including development and support for a second OS, subtracted from gross sales. You do the math.

There's one reason ALONE why I would buy Vista....it's called DirectX 10 and it gives gaming and media a whole different dimension when consuming it. It's really mind boggling the graphics you can pull when having DX 10.

It's not that we're telling everyone to jump to Vista either, if you're satisfied with XP then keep using it till they stop updating it....but everyone seems to knock Vista when probably 90% haven't used it on a day-to-day basis or have not tried to take the time to figure out the bugs, like they did with their XP program. It's those biased opinions that I hate.