Operating system trends

What the heck, we did it for browsers, now let's do it for operatingsystems. As users of Windows, it will probably come as no surpriseto you that your operating system is the run-away best seller. Hereare some interesting facts about Windows, all culled from Windowsmagazine. The story is called "The Future of Windows," but it mightas well be called "The Future IS Windows": • The total number of operating systems--both Windows and non-Windows--sold each year is expected to increase from 83 million copies in 1996 to 136 million in the year 2000, according to research firm Dataquest. Windows' share of this expanding market is projected to grow from 86% in 1996 to 92% in 2000. • Though the Mac OS, UNIX and OS/2 sales all grew in absolute numbers last year, Windows 95 and Windows NT were the only operating systems to gain market share. • Total new copies of Windows shipped each year is projected to climb from 71 million copies last year to 123 million in the year 2000. • Windows 95 is the fastest-selling operating system ever; Microsoft ships between 3 million and 5 million copies per month for a total of more than 70 million copies so far. • Windows NT Workstation sales are expected to increase from 4 million copies last year to more than 50 million copies in the year 2000, Dataquest projects. (That's not a total. It's the number Dataquest expects Microsoft to ship in the year 2000 alone.) • Analyst Rob Enderle, of Giga Information Group, estimates the number of Windows users (actual people) to grow from about 150 million by the end of 1996 to 215 million people by the year 2000. Now, it's worth noting that DataQuest has always been *way* offin their projections, but these figures are still interesting.Using Netscape's accounting tactics, we can see that the MicrosoftExchange client is the best selling E-mail system on the planetwith over 70 million "users." They should advertise that more.:) Sorry, I couldn't resist