Is Vista catching up or moving ahead?

Feb 2, 2007 15:36 GMT  ·  By

"The choice today is between an OS trying its best to catch up- or Mac OS X, which continues to lead the way," reads a fragment from an article on Apple's website. The article trashes Windows Vista as being but an imitation of the Mac OS X by beating the old drum of the similarities between the two operating systems.

The search mechanism, the widgets/gadgets, the chess game that ships with both platforms, the sidebar are among the Mac OS X features that Apple claims Vista has copied. And the truth of the matter is that the similarities cannot be disputed. But the phrase: "the choice today is between an OS trying its best to catch up- or Mac OS X, which continues to lead the way," fails to reveal the true measure of the situation. And while Apple is applauding the fact that it is still leader in innovation, Microsoft is the indisputable leader on the operating system's market.

Microsoft's various operating systems account for over 92% of the OS market, with XP holding the lion's share with 85.02%. Meanwhile Mac OS X only managed a share of 6.31%. Vista is currently at just 0.18%. The percentage is insignificant.

But Windows Vista will not remain so close to 0% much longer. In fact, with the retail availability of Windows Vista, Microsoft's $1.6 deferral used for the technology guarantee programs announced on October 24, 2006 for Vista and the Office 2007 and the $500 million Vista Wow marketing campaign will weigh heavy in the balance. Apple should get ready for the sight of Windows Vista rushing by in the OS market share ratings. Oh, yeah, and it runs on Intel based Macs too...