dmurdoch@watstat.uwaterloo.ca (Duncan Murdoch) (05/26/90)
I just picked up a new book edited by Ray Duncan ("Extending DOS"). As part
of its self-justification, it gives some stats on the sales rates of various
PC operating systems in 1989, that I found quite interesting:
DOS 11 million 61 %
Mac System 6 1.2 million 6.6 %
UNIX 440,000 2.4 %
OS/2 125,000 0.7 %
Total 18 million 100 %
(It doesn't explain the missing 30%, or define exactly what a "PC" is.)
It also says the installed base of DOS systems is over 45 million.
By the way, the rest of the book looks interesting too: it talks about EMS,
XMS, protected mode DOS extenders, Windows, DESQview, and "VCPI and DPMI"
from a programming point of view, with apparently lots of technical detail.
Duncan Murdochkaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) (05/30/90)
In article <1990May26.123444.26434@maytag.waterloo.edu> dmurdoch@watstat.uwaterloo.ca (Duncan Murdoch) writes:
-I just picked up a new book edited by Ray Duncan ("Extending DOS"). As part
-of its self-justification, it gives some stats on the sales rates of various
-PC operating systems in 1989, that I found quite interesting:
-
- DOS 11 million 61 %
- Mac System 6 1.2 million 6.6 %
- UNIX 440,000 2.4 %
- OS/2 125,000 0.7 %
-
- Total 18 million 100 %
Given that may people (myself included) have bought DOS many times; 2.0,
2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.2, 4.01 in many cases for the same machine. And given
that the Macintosh OS is given away free, and people who had pre 6.0.x
versions of the OS just copied the OS from their friends, IMHO I don't see
"sales" rates as a valid comparison.
Follow ups to comp.sys.mac.vs.pc.wars :-)
kaleb@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propeller Labs
Kaleb Keithleymju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) (05/30/90)
kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) writes: > that the Macintosh OS is given away free, and people who had pre 6.0.x > versions of the OS just copied the OS from their friends, IMHO I don't see > "sales" rates as a valid comparison. Not to defend the Mac or anything, but I think an ample number of PC owners have a pirated copy of MS-DOS. I just wonder how many fewer questions there would be in comp.sys.ibm.pc if every PC owner had a well-written manual for their OS and machine... -- Marc Unangst | "It is dangerous to be right when Internet: mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us | the government is wrong." UUCP : ...!umich!leebai!mudos!mju | -Voltaire Fidonet : Marc Unangst of 1:2200/129.0 +--------------------------------------
nts0302@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (Bob Fisher) (05/30/90)
From article <8m5XJ4w162w@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us>, by mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst): } kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) writes: }> that the Macintosh OS is given away free, and people who had pre 6.0.x }> versions of the OS just copied the OS from their friends, IMHO I don't see }> "sales" rates as a valid comparison. } } Not to defend the Mac or anything, but I think an ample number of PC } owners have a pirated copy of MS-DOS. I just wonder how many fewer } questions there would be in comp.sys.ibm.pc if every PC owner had a } well-written manual for their OS and machine... Don't forget about all of us who got DOS bundled with a new system and only got minimal documentation. What I got with my system doesn't tell much of the story. I still refer back to my old manual (DOS 3.3) even though I now use DOS 4.01. -- Bob Fisher US Defense Logistics Agency Systems Automation Center DSAC-TSX, Box 1605, Columbus, OH 43216-5002 614-238-9071 (AV 850-9071) bfisher@dsac.dla.mil osu-cis!dsacg1!bfisher
jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) (05/30/90)
In a recent article mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes: >kaleb@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Kaleb Keithley) writes: >> that the Macintosh OS is given away free, and people who had pre 6.0.x >> versions of the OS just copied the OS from their friends, IMHO I don't see >> "sales" rates as a valid comparison. > >Not to defend the Mac or anything, but I think an ample number of PC >owners have a pirated copy of MS-DOS. I just wonder how many fewer >questions there would be in comp.sys.ibm.pc if every PC owner had a >well-written manual for their OS and machine... At the risk of being accused of flaming Microsoft and/or Big Blue, I have to observe that the publications provided with the (legal, paid-for) copies of DOS (especially IBM PC-DOS) are not what I would call "well-written manuals". This is especially true of DOS 4, where you don't even get all of the limited material delivered with previous releases. PS to IBM: That's a HINT, spelled H-I-N-T.