2009 Operating Systems in Review

At first glance, 2009 did not show much change in usage market share between the various major operating systems, but a deeper look shows a couple of significant trends. NetMarketShare.com from NetApplications.com provides global usage market share statistics for browsers, operating systems and search engines. This data offers valuable insight into significant trends for internet usage.

Major desktop OS usage market share changes for 2009:

Windows 7 a Huge Success

The biggest OS story of 2009 was the release of Windows 7 from Microsoft. Many people considered Windows Vista to be a failure (and many of those even reside in Redmond), but if you look at the history of Microsoft's OS releases there seems to be a pattern. Think back to 1980 (my Commodore VIC-20 was such a huge step up from teletype).

Bill Gates and Microsoft were approached by IBM to provide an operating system for their new PC. Microsoft reportedly bought DOS to license to IBM for $50,000 and leveraged that to achieve what was possibly the best ROI in the history of business. From DOS to Windows 1 through 3, then a naming convention change to Win 95, Win 98 and Win2000, followed by another naming convention change to Win XP, another change with Vista, and then back to the original naming convention with Windows 7.

I believe that means:

• Win 95 = Win 4 (huge success)
• Win 98 = Win 5 (huge success)
• Win2000 = Win 5.5 (not so much)
• Win Me = 5.51a (not so much)
• Win XP = Win 6 (huge success)
• Win Vista = well, let's skip that version number altogether.
• Win 7 = Win 7 (so far a huge success)

What this shows:

More than half of Microsoft's major consumer-oriented (not NT) Windows releases have been huge successes. And, we'd all be happier if the marketing folks at Microsoft would be more consistent with their naming conventions.

Windows 7, released in October 2009, has been the fastest selling operating system in history. It hit the ground running with a large number of people in Microsoft's test program, and had over 2% usage market share at launch. Win7 peaked above 5% within a month, and peaked above 10% in just over 3 months.

Google Announces Chrome OS

The next big OS story of 2009 demonstrates the battle of the technology Titans. Nick Bilton of the NY Times published a great story providing A Big-Picture Look at Google, Microsoft, Apple And Yahoo. It shows how these companies are quickly entering each other's markets, but no battle looms quite as large as Google's announcement that it would soon be offering a competitor to Microsoft Windows. Leveraging the development effort of Chrome browser, Google is predicting less reliance on local computing power and more reliance on browser-centric cloud computing. Enter Google Chrome OS, expected in 2010 with a small footprint, quick start-up, and focus on getting the user on the Internet as quickly and easily as possible. All, so we can use Google search and click on Google ads.

The Explosion of Mobile Computing

NetMarketShare.com reported in December 2009 that mobile browsing now accounts for 1.3% of all browsing, and rose to 1.48% in January 2010.  The biggest usage share winners the holiday season were mobile devices.  Both Windows and Mac devices lost a small amount of share in December, while all major mobile operating systems attained large percentage gains. This trend not only looks to continue, but perhaps even to accelerate.

Related stories: 

• 2009 – Browsers in Review
• 2009 Search Engines – Top 10 Stories of the Year

New <Embed/> feature in NetMarketShare.com

NetMarketShare.com reports now offer a way to easily embed the report within your website or document. Try it out at www.netmarketshare.com.

About the Author:  Vincent Vizzaccaro is EVP of Marketing and Strategic Alliances for NetApplications.com, as well as the press contact for NetMarketShare.com, the leading source of Internet Usage Market Share Statistics.  vince@netapplications.com

For these and other Net Market Share Statistics, go to netmarketshare.com.

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Google Sets Sights on Aggressive Renewal of AOL Search Deal

Reports have emerged that Google has set its sights squarely on an AOL search deal as its next major strategy.

According to Nicholas Carlson, who reported on plans via the Silicon Alley Insider site, Microsoft will struggle to outbid Google on AOL’s search business.

Sources close to Google’s Mountain View HQ are suggesting Google will take a very aggressive strategy into negotiations, making it almost impossible for competitors to get a look in.

The current deal between Google and AOL is due to end shortly and Tim Armstrong, AOL’s CEO has openly said he’s accepting offers from all parties.

The deal has been obviously been lucrative for both parties, but Mr Armstrong is looking to change some of the conditions during the renegotiations. One of the key changes is the ability for search ads to link to AOL content rather than always pointing to search partner’s advertiser content.

In terms of a search deal, that could throw a spanner in the works. Google will be wary of any restrictions which significantly impact the revenue potential of the deal.

AOL’s viewpoint was summed up well by a statement by Tim earlier this year:

“We’re the largest music content provider online. It may be more strategic for us to put less ads on a search page for outside partners and put more distribution to our music properties on that search page. We can monetize the music traffic and a different part of AOL services with display ads.

[The deal] doesn’t just have to be good for the search part of the business. There are other things in the search deal that we may or may not trade off for search money.”

Given the volume of searches the AOL produces, Google might be prepared to compromise a little to secure the deal. It’s a case of losing a battle to win the war. We’ll have to wait and see if Microsoft has anything up its sleeve.

About the Author: Rene LeMerle is the marketing manager of ineedhits.com - a global search engine marketing company. He also leads the marketing for Gooruze.com - a web 2.0 style community for online and digital marketers. Rene has been in the industry since 1997 with much of that time spent helping businesses embrace the best of the internet and digital world.  renelemerle

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