Latest Stats as at 4/8/2008.
These figures cover the 16-day period 16/7/2008 to 31/7/2008. 


Vista Market Share
==================

For period 16th to 31st July 2008, figures based on visits:-

XP 71.1 (was 74.4% for 1-15 July)
Vista 15.1 (was 12.9)
Other Windows 5.6 (was 5.8)
Mac 5.6 (was 5.3 but unlikely to be a sudden signigicant change)
Linux 1.8 
Others 0.6

This rise for Vista gives the highest figure ever recorded,
previous highest figures was back in March. 
Their share has taken off a little since July 1st, 
but it is of course always at the expense of XP, 
although it means M$ is getting some revenue from their eye-candy.

 
Browser Breakup
===============

For period 16-31 July:

IE 72.0  (was 68.5)
FF 20.8  (was 22.5)
Safari 4.3
Opera 1.1 
All Others 1.7

These figures are based on IP addresses.  

Some figures previously counted as "others" are now counted as IE, 
hence the higher figure figure for IE.

Also the calculation of what is "human" is now a little stricter.  

Safari may be sliding (big on Macs of course).  
Opera is stuck around 1.0% but I gather their customers actually pay
after a trial period.

Expect better figures in two weeks with more stable methods.


Firefox 3 Takeup
================

These percentage figures are based on visits, 
and only from an OS where the breakup is clear. For example FF3 
is not available for Windows 98, so Win98 has been excluded.

FF1 4.4 (was 4.0)
FF2 65.1 (was 73.1)
FF3 30.5 (was 22.9) 

FF3 was 5.2 for 1-15 June, 15.4 for 16-30 June, 22.9 for July 1-16. 

The big takeup since early June continues.

But on the Linux front, many are still using FF1.0 or FF1.5, 
far more stick-in-the-mud than Windows or Mac users.
Perhaps either they are satisfied with FF1, 
or automatic upgrade is not available,
or they find upgrading too difficult. 


Search Engines Share
==================== 

July 16-31

Google 85.7 (was 86.6, 86.2)
Yahoo 8.0 (was 7.5, 7.8)
Microsoft 2.6 (was 2.1, 2.3)
All others 3.8 (was 3.7, 3.7)

Recent US computer articles give Google a market share 
increasing and around 70%  I have always measured far higher.

The above figures show a slight decline for Google,
which translates as major improvements for Yahoo and Microsoft.

There are some pretty nasty/desperate deals out there: 
According to PC Authority for August 2008, 
if you install the free edition of AVG-8 as your 
anti-virus protection, you get an optional AVG web toolbar 
which includes a Yahoo Search box which cannot be hidden.
(AC/DC: dirty deeds done dirt cheap). 

PS: If you are planning to launch a new search engine, 
it had better be a good one.  
Try "Bondi Beach Motel" at www.sensis.com.au 
and you will see what I mean.

Further to this previous comment, a new search engine
www.cuil.com (cool, eh) has just been launched 
and claims to have more pages indexed than Google.
Tepid reviews followed.
Try it and you'll see for yourself, 
clearly it does not have the scope of Google, 
and nor does it seem to know what you are talking about
like Google does, and frankly Google is much better.
Cuil has a different layout for a change so it's worth a look.

I have a few pet things I try, 
including "apostrophe errors" or "apostrophe mistakes".
This word is a good test of semantics, 
as there is a musical group called Apostrophe
and it's a public address or poem spoken as a tribute.  
 
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