And in the Apple market, Lion is still trailing two-year-old Snow Leopard
In its final monthly report for 2011, NetApplications offers a window on the shifting fates of the various flavors of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows and Mac OS X that show up at its 40,000 clients' websites.
As a rule, creaky old legacy systems dominate.
Windows XP, which Microsoft introduced in August 2001, is still the single most-present PC operating system, with a 46.5% share of global Web traffic.
And Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), which Apple (AAPL) launched in Aug. 2009, still has a 3.1% market share to Lion's 2.0%
But despite the persistence of aging OSs, there was a lot of rapid movement in 2011. Lion's Web presence went from 0% to 2% in just over two months. And Windows 7, for its part, went from 21.7% to 37% in the space of a year, a 71% increase.
It was not a good year for Vista or "Other," however. Both experienced significant share drops in 2011.
For a summary of NetApplications methodology, see here.
Steve Jobs' master plan to draw a generation raised on stolen music into the iTunes store
Of the 5,364 items in my iTunes music library, 143 are songs I purchased on Apple's (AAPL) iTunes store. The vast majority were ripped from my old CD collection. A few were obtained by other means.
My children have even larger digital music collections that they store on iTunes and play on their Apple devices. I MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 7, 2011 7:16 AM ET
Could a friendly fungus eventually eliminate styrofoam packaging? Don't laugh, it just might.
FORTUNE -- If your job was to ship 250 pounds and $25,000 dollars worth of computer servers, you'd no doubt pack them in a box using only the safest materials. And yet when Dell (DELL) ships four of its PowerEdge R710 servers it will soon offer a new packaging made of...mushrooms.
The idea seems off-the-wall, but it also seems MORE
Scott Woolley - Apr 5, 2011 3:21 PM ET
Why would Symantec's CEO suggest that Macs are just as vulnerable as Windows PCs?
Maybe to sell more anti-viral software.
That's the only explanation I can give for Enrique Salem's performance in a video posted on CNNMoney Thursday entitled "Macs are no safer than PCs." (Video below the fold.)
Fortune's Adam Lashinsky asked Symantec's (SYMC) CEO several different ways whether a Mac was as likely to get attacked by malware as a MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 17, 2011 2:40 PM ET
Generic PC users are happier than they were, but still not as happy as Apple's customers
The chart above, posted by my colleague David Goldman at CNNMoney early Tuesday, says it all.
The release of Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 7 helped undo some of the damage done by Vista, as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index's 16th annual survey of computer users. But Apple (AAPL) remains in the lead for the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 21, 2010 6:58 AM ET
There are at least 32 in the works. Technologizer has the definitive round-up.
Nothing breeds imitation in high tech like a runaway Apple (AAPL) success. Even before the iPad was unveiled, Cupertino's competitors were scrambling to catch up. Now that Steve Jobs' latest invention is clearly a hit, the rush is on.
How many iPad wannabees are out there or in the works? Technologizer's Harry McCracken stopped counting at 32, but he MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 15, 2010 5:51 AM ET
Microsoft's latest pitch on the Web for Windows 7 is a six-point Apple attack ad
Where are John Hodgman and Justin Long when we need them?
It's been more than nine months since Apple (AAPL) issued its last three "Get a Mac" ads -- aired, not coincidentally, the day Windows 7 launched -- but the sting still lingers in Redmond, Wash.
On Monday, Microsoft (MSFT) took another crack at countering Apple's three-year television MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 10, 2010 6:48 AM ET
Analyst sees Apple taking 35% to 40% of the tablet and e-reader market in 2010
In a note to clients issued Thursday, BMO Capital's Keith Bachman offers several reasons for raising his price target on Apple (AAPL) to $265 a share from $250, including a 17% increase in Mac sales and the likelihood that the company will release a new iPhone in June.
But the biggest change in his model -- and MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Mar 25, 2010 12:00 PM ET
Don't look now, but the year's most buzz-worthy tech company might be Microsoft.
Microsoft went around with a big, fat target on its forehead for a couple of decades. It was the tech giant we loved to hate. The company deserved the scorn; in the 1990s it crushed pipsqueaks Apple (AAPL), Netscape and Palm (PALM), and still found time to push around a few hapless PC makers who seemed to barely MORE
Jon Fortt - Feb 26, 2010 9:39 AM ET
Interest among ChangeWave's early adopters compares with the first Intel Macs
Adding to the pre-tablet buzz, ChangeWave Research issued the results Thursday of a survey gauging consumer interest in the new Apple (AAPL) device expected to be unveiled at next Wednesday's "latest creation" event.
Asked how likely they would be to buy an 'iSlate' if-and-when it becomes available, the 3,314 respondents answered as follows: 4% said they were "very likely" to buy MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 21, 2010 11:17 AM ET