Shocker! Microsoft commands 79 percent of desktop OS market

We all know that Windows is installed at the overwhelming majority of computers, however’s always interesting to be reminded of what a cash cow the OS has been for Redmond. In line with Gartner, Microsoft owned 78.6 percent of the worldwide marketplace for desktop operating systems on the end of 2010 — up almost 9 percent from 2009. Meaning, of the $30.4 billion in revenue that various companies generated, $23.8 billion lined Microsoft’s coffers. But while Windows remains the kingpin, Mac OS X and — look ahead to it — Red Hat, posted more substantial gains. Apple’s market share shot up almost 16 percent to at least one.7 percent market share, Red Hat surged 18 percent, while dark horse Oracle leaped from ninth place to fourth, with a 7,683 percent growth in market share — no small because of its 2009 acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Just one question remains, then — who’s the loser?

Gartner Says Worldwide Operating System Software Market Grew to $30.4 Billion in 2010

Recovery of the worldwide Economy Substantially Contributed to Market Growth
STAMFORD, Conn., April 27, 2011- Because the global economy recovered, worldwide operating system (OS) revenue totaled $30.4 billion in 2010, a 7.8 percent increase from 2009, in response to Gartner, Inc.

Linux (server) and Mac OS were the fastest-growing subsegments within the server and client OS segments, respectively, while Microsoft maintained its leading position within the overall OS market, with 78.6 percent market share.

“Generally, client OSs outperformed server OSs and grew 9.3 percent in 2010, while the server OS segment grew 5.7 percent,” said Matthew Cheung, principal research analyst at Gartner. “The long-pending demand for PC refreshment was unleashed because the economy stepped out from the commercial turndown, which drove growth of client OSs.”

Among client OSs, Mac OS wbecause the fastest-growing subsegment in 2010 as the unit shipments of Mac desktop/laptop devices saw strong sales, although from a far-smaller basis. Windows client was still the biggest client OS segment, with high-single-digit growth, particularly driven by adoption of Windows 7 and the approaching end of life (EOL) of Windows XP.

“Within the server OS market, Linux (server) was the fastest-growing subsegment in 2010 as end users adopted more open-standard systems. Throughout the Unix OS market, IBM AIX had high single-digit growth, but Unix generally experienced modest or negative growth,” said Alan Dayley, managing vice chairman at Gartner. “The EOL threat for Unix OSs akin to Tru64 and NetWare pushed the ‘other proprietary Unix’ subsegment down 39.6 percent in 2010 as some vendors retired their proprietary Unix and moved users to more open systems.”

Microsoft held the biggest market share of the global OS software segment, with 78.6 percent share in 2010 (see Table 1). The distant second- and third-place vendors were IBM and HP, with 7.5 percent and three.7 percent share, respectively. Oracle climbed up the ranking from No. 8 in 2009 to No. 4 in 2010 by acquiring Sun Microsystems’ Solaris business in April 2009.

Microsoft’s Windows (client) business had higher growth at 9.2 percent, compared with its Windows (server) business at 7.5 percent growth. a brand new wave of PC refreshment after the commercial recession was the foremost reason behind the higher-performing Windows (client) business. Windows 7 also gained market acceptance because the successor to Windows Vista and XP. The projected EOL of XP in early 2014 drove enterprises to accelerate migration to Windows 7 within the second 1/2 2010.

One of the three OSs owned by IBM, AIX experienced the top growth at 9.2 percent because of the acclaim for Power Systems. The consolidation of the System p and System i platforms and the tactic to push more AIX contributed to the slow growth of System i at 2.7 percent in 2010.

HP-UX was capable of maintain modest growth at 3.7 percent in 2010. However, HP’s revenue from proprietary Unix and other proprietary OSs continued to say no due to the discontinuation of Tru64 and a decline in shipments of industrial-critical systems, similar to NonStop and OpenVMS.

Oracle’s software revenue from Solaris declined 3.2 percent in 2010 as end users were skeptical about Oracle’s commitment to the Solaris platform – although the corporate made several announcements to clear this anxiety. Oracle’s Linux versions (generally known as Unbreakable Linux) grew a small base almost 200 percent in 2010 – which also showed Oracle’s technique to lessen its dependence on other vendors’ Unix or Linux OSs.

Red Hat has been dominating the industrial Linux (server) market. Revenue of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server license went up 18.6 percent to $592 million in 2010, taking a 58.2 percent share of the Linux (server) market. Gartner analysts said the phenomenon demonstrates that the market has accepted Linux as a viable alternative to Unix and other proprietary OSs in mission-critical environments.

Mac OS grew 15.8 percent to a size of $520 million in 2010, fueled by the strong sales of Mac desktops and laptops. Apple’s making of Mac OS as a “cool” client computing OS has attracted a set of loyal customers on Mac devices and platforms. Apple’s continuous innovations in mobile devices, along with smartphones and tablets, have prompted sales of alternative Apple devices and should continue to drive Mac sales.

More information comes in the Gartner report “Market Share Analysis: Operating System Software, Worldwide, 2010.” The report is accessible on Gartner’s website at: http://www.gartner.com/resId=1634314.