Windows 7, Mac OS make gains in January

Apple's Mac OS continued to move up among operating systems accessing the Web, while Windows 7 jumped up after Microsoft released its public beta, according to Net Applications.

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A born browser of dictionaries and a lifelong New Englander, Jon Skillings is an editorial director at CNET. He honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing for tech publications -- including at PC Week and the IDG News Service -- back when the web was just getting under way, and even a little before. For CNET, he's written on topics from GPS to 5G, James Bond, lasers, brass instruments and music streaming services.

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Jon Skillings

Feb. 2, 2009 6:57 a.m. PT

2 min read

January was a good month for both the emerging Windows 7 and the venerable Mac OS, according to Web metrics company Net Applications.

The Mac OS is now hovering around the 10 percent mark among operating systems accessing the Web.

In its Operating System Market Share report for January, Net Applications showed the Mac OS at 9.93 percent, up from 9.63 percent in December. The iPhone also trended upward to 0.48 percent in January, from 0.44 percent in December.

January figures from Net Applications on operating system share amid Internet use. Net Applications

In its recap of the Net Applications numbers, Fortune highlighted the ground gained by Apple's iPod Touch:

The biggest winner in January, however, was the iPod touch, whose "explosive" growth in December continued unabated after the holidays, growing 37.5% to reach a 0.11% Internet share...That means that more than one out of every 1,000 Web hits in January were made from iPod touches -- at least according to Net Applications' data.

Use of Windows 7, meanwhile, surged in January after Microsoft released the public beta of the operating system, the follow-on to Windows Vista that's due sometime around the end of 2009.

The beta became available January 10 (though not without some stumbling), up to which point Windows 7 stood at about 0.04 percent. Through most of the rest of the month, it fluctuated at between roughly 0.12 percent and 0.15 percent. It closed out the month with a jump to 0.23 percent on January 31, according to Net Applications' breakout on Windows 7.

That January 31 jump may have come from people who still thought that would be the last day to get the beta. But about a week ago, Microsoft extended the window for the downloads, saying the Windows 7 beta is available through February 10.

But on the whole, Windows continued to inch downward. The Net Applications report for January, released Sunday, put the Microsoft operating system at 88.26 percent, down from 88.68 percent in December. That's still plenty good enough, of course, to keep Windows in the No. 1 spot. Linux came in third at 0.83 percent in January, essentially the same as its 0.85 percent December showing.

Net Applications accumulates its data from 160 million monthly visitors to its network of hosted Web sites that collect statistics.