🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <HX40o.37793$f_3.3851@newsfe17.iad>, John Slade
<hhitman86@pacbell.net> wrote:

> >>         Microsoft isn't a monopoly and they never have been.
> >
> > plenty of people disagree,
> 
> <snippage>
> 
>      And plenty of people are wrong.

so i see, from your posts.

> >>        People think of Microsoft as a monopoly because they did
> >> much better than the competition. A true monopoly is ONE company
> >> controlling an industry.
> >
> > exactly what microsoft did.
> 
>       No they did not. Every PC owner had a choice to buy a PC 
> without Windows or uninstall Windows if it was already 
> installed. They could have used Linux or some other OS.

the pc makers were offered a far worse deal for bundling windows if
they wanted to sell computers without it or with an alternative option,
such as beos. 

microsoft used its monopoly status to squash anything else, and that's
why they got in a heap of trouble.

> >> These days Windows 7 is selling very
> >> well in the retail market where people are making a conscious
> >> choice to use Windows rather than it being pre-installed on a
> >> system.
> >
> > actually more and more are switching to macs. look at the numbers.
> 
>        Please feel free too show me how they're switching to OS 
> X. Macs are just PCs now that run Windows themselves to that is 
> no indication of how successful OS X is. 

very few mac users buy a mac solely to run windows. they use windows
for the occasional app that has no mac counterpart, or for writing
cross platform software or web development where having both systems on
one box is a significant advantage.

> I've been hearing this 
> same drivel for years and yet OS X market share has been between 
> 3%-5% of the worldwide base. Now if OS X reaches 20% of the 
> market, I would be shocked.

depends how you count it. market share usually includes pcs that are
not desktops, including servers, kiosks, point of sale terminals, etc.
look at desktop market share, or retail sales, and you get an entirely
different picture.

in 2008, it was 14%:
<http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9069298/Mac_sales_corral_14_of_U.
S._computer_market>

for computers over $1000 (apple doesn't bother with the low end), apple
has 91% market share:

<http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/Apple-has-91-of-market-for-10
00-PCs-says-NPD/1248313624>