[pyre]

Just the be clear, market share != install base. Market share is basically the percentage of new computers being sold (presumably limited to desktop computers).

Things to note:

- This could just mean that sales of new Windows computers fell relative to computers with other operating systems, but the sales of Windows computers in absolute numbers still grew.

- This could mean Window users are buying fewer new computers, but Apple users are more prone to upgrade their computers to get the next new shiny model (or upgrade to escape some Rev 1.0 issues that Apple refuses to acknowledge/fix).

[gnaffle]

Actually the opposite is true, apparently Mac users keep their computers for much longer than Windows users. A key reason is probably the price of a new Mac, another that time and OS upgrades generally don't make a Mac much slower (the exception being Lion). Many Windows PCs are simply thrown away because it's cheaper for a non-techie to buy a new one than to reinstall the OS an all their apps.

[pyre]

In the early 2000's, I knew a number of people that would upgrade every cycle or so by reselling their old Mac and buying the shiny new one.