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Software
News & Opinion
Mac Market Share Grows to 9.63%
NetApplications HitsLink Operating System Market Share stats
for December, 2008, show the Mac OS's market share gained nearly a full
point during the month, its high-water mark for the 21st Century.
Windows dropped below 90% in November 2008 and has stayed there,
dropping nearly another point over the month while Linux's share
remained steady below one percent and the iPhone version of OS X
was up slightly.
Here's the Operating System Total Market Share rundown of the
significant players for December (November figures in parentheses):
- Windows 88.68% (89.62%)
- Mac 9.63% (8.87%)
- Linux 0.85% (0.83%)
- iPhone 0.44% (0.37%)
Comparing longer term, at 88.68% Windows is down more than five
percentage points since May 2006 (95.09%), while the Mac OS at 9.63%
has more than doubled its share over the same interval from 4.43% in
May 2006 and the PowerPC version of Mac OS was actually up in December,
while Linux has also more then doubled its May 2006 numbers from 0.40%
to 0.85%..
In terms of versions:
- Windows:
- Windows XP 65.22% (66.31%)
- Windows Vista 21.12% (20.45%)
- Windows 2000 1.47% (1.56%)
- Windows NT 0.34% (0.77%)
- Windows 98 0.27% (0.29%)
- Windows ME 0.16% (0.17%)
- Windows CE 0.05% (0.05%)
- Macintosh:
- MacIntel 7.19% (6.51%)
- Mac OS (Classic) 2.44% (2.35%)
- iPhone 0.44% (0.37%)
- iPod 0.08% (0.05%)
- Linux 0.85% (0.83%)
- Link:
OS Market Share
- Link:
OS Market Share by Version
Browser Share
Moving on to browsers, the Firefox browser exceeded 20% share for
November, and gained more ground in December, while Safari gained more
than half a point of share on the month, while Internet Explorer faded
more. Google's newcomer (and so far Windows-only) Chrome now has more
than 1% of the browser market.
Browser Total Market Share:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer - 68.15% (69.77%)
- Firefox - 21.34% (20.78%)
- Safari 7.93% (7.13%)
- Chrome - 1.04% (0.83%)
- Opera - 0.71% (0.71%)
- Netscape - 0.57% (0.53%)
- Mozilla - 0.08% (0.08%)
- Opera Mini - 0.07% (0.06%)
Link: Browser
Market Share
Quanta to Supply 800,000 All-in-one PCs Monthly to
Apple
DigiTimes'
Joseph Tsai reports:
"The Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) has cited sources
inside the component supply chain as saying that Apple plans to launch
a new iMac all-in-one PC in the first quarter of next year, and the
company's sole manufacturing partner, Quanta Computer, is gearing up to
supply monthly shipments of around 800,000 units during the first
quarter of 2009."
Link: Quanta to Supply
Monthly Shipments of 800,000 All-in-one PCs to Apple in 1Q09, Says
Paper (subscription required)
Next-gen iMacs Due in January
AppleInsider's
Katie Marsal reports:
"A new-generation of Nvidia-based iMacs are due to begin shipping
out of China sometime next month, according to a new report out of the
Far East.
"Citing sources within Apple's supply chain, the Chinese-language
Economic Daily News reported Tuesday that the Mac maker is scheduled to
'launch a new iMac all-in-one PC in the first quarter of next year, and
the company's sole manufacturing partner, Quanta Computer, is gearing
up to supply monthly shipments of around 800,000 units during the first
quarter of 2009.'
"The paper added that the new models will begin making their way
stateside in January...."
Link:
Next-gen iMacs Due in January, Says Paper
New Mac mini Go for Launch
TUAW's Steven Sande reports:
"When it comes to the Mac
mini, there are people out there who know everything there is to
know . . . and now, those savvy sources are telling TUAW that
they are confident a new Mac mini is set to be announced at Macworld
Expo 2009 next week. While many details are still vague - we still have
no idea if the dimensions of the new mini are at all different from the
existing model - some details are starting to emerge...."
Link:
Rumor Watch: New Mac mini Go for Launch
Is Apple Planning a 'Mac Nano?'
Fast Company's
Chris Dannen says:
"A Chinese company says it's producing a case for an upcoming iPhone
Nano. Bits of code inside the latest version of OS X suggest a new
Mac mini. Are they one in the same?
"Apple has been mum about both rumors. But XSKN, a manufacturer of
rubberized protective cases, has been right about forthcoming Apple
gadgets before; the company's product line successfully predicted both
the iPhone 3G and the iPod Touch. Now XSKN is selling a case for an
'iPhone Nano' that it says will have a 2.75-inch screen and no 3G
wireless. Judging by XSKN's image, the iPhone Nano would look like a
thicker, broader version of the current iPod Nano.
"Of course, this doesn't make sense with what we know about
Apple....
"The other big Apple rumor this week is concerned with a new Mac
mini, Apple's long-neglected bare-bones computer. The last time the Mac
mini was updated, Barack Obama was still a long-shot senator from
Illinois; many rumor sites have proclaimed the Mini dead. But MacRumors
has discovered strings of code in the most recent version of OS X that
refer to a Mac mini version called '3.1,' which doesn't yet exist.
"Could the new Mac mini and the 'iPhone Nano' be the same
device?...."
Link:Is
Apple Planning a 'Mac Nano?'
What's Missing from Apple Products?
Bare
Feats' rob-ART Morgan says:
"We keep a running list of what's missing from Apple Inc. products
and product line. Here's our latest of suggestions...."
Link: MISS_NG P I E C E S (What's
Missing from Apple Inc. Products?)
Macintosh at 25: Still the Innovation Leader
CNET's Dan
Farber says:
"On January 24, 1984, the Macintosh came into the
world, starting the second major revolution in the personal computer
industry. Steve Jobs and team took some lessons from Xerox PARC and
created the first user-friendly, mass market computer....
"The 128K Mac version of the graphical user interface, with icons,
fonts, folders, audio and a mouse, started a new era of computing that
hasn't yet run its full course. MacPaint, MacWrite, and eventually
LaserWriter, PageMaker, and Photoshop led to a revolution in desktop
publishing, and AppleTalk made networking relatively simple.
"After nearly 25 years, the Macintosh and its offspring, such as the
iPod and iPhone, are still leading in terms of setting the pace for
innovation...."
Link: Macintosh at 25:
Still the Innovation Leader
25 Years of Mac: From Boxy Beige to Silver
Sleek
Wired's Steven Levy
reports:
"It's the 25th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh, but Steve Jobs'
eyes are dry. At the company headquarters in Silicon Valley, where he
was presenting a set of new laptops to the press last October, I
mentioned the birthday to him. Jobs recoiled at any suggestion of
nostalgia. 'I don't think about that,' he said. 'When I got back here
in 1997, I was looking for more room, and I found an archive of old
Macs and other stuff. I said, 'Get it away!' and I shipped all that
shit off to Stanford. If you look backward in this business, you'll be
crushed. You have to look forward.'
"Here's what's amazing about the Mac as it turns 25, a number that
in computer years is just about a googolplex: It can look forward. The
Mac's original competition - the green-phosphorus-screened stuff made
by RadioShack, DEC, and then-big kahuna IBM - now inhabit landfills,
both physically and psychically. Yet the Macintosh is not only
thriving, it's doing better than at any time in its history...."
Link: 25 Years of
Mac: From Boxy Beige to Silver Sleek
Products & Services
MyOtherDrive Announces Unattended Backup with
Encryption
PR: MyOtherDrive have made several new improvements to their
online backup and file sharing service. The major enhancements are:
- Unattended Backup
- Encryption
- Copy To My Drive
- Grab File
Unattended Backup
Mark the folders on your PC to backup, set the days of the week and
time to copy, and let us do the rest. Our service will copy new and
changed files for you on a scheduled basis, protecting your data from
loss. Each night when the backup completes, you will receive an email
summary report.
Encryption
Not comfortable storing all of your data on a online site? Then use
our encryption feature. Before your files are sent to our service, the
files are encrypted using advanced AES 128-bit encryption. This means
that when our servers receive your file, the contents are completely
encrypted impossible for us or anyone on the Internet to read. When
downloading encrypted files, enter your password, and the files will be
decrypted on your machine before being written out. It's that
simple.
Copy To My Drive
Have a file that needs to be shared amongst many? With this feature,
one person uploads, and the rest can "Copy To My Drive" - effectively
sending the file from the uploader's account directly to your account,
bypassing any upload or download. You control the group that can share
the file(s).
Grab File
See an interesting video or other file that you wish to move
straight to your MyOtherDrive account, without downloading and then
uploading? Use Grab File. Enter a URL, select a file name and folder,
and we will download the content from the URL straight to your
account.
You can store up to 5 GB online with a free MyOtherDrive
account.
Link: MyOtherDrive
Symwave to Demonstrate World's First USB 3.0
Storage Solution at CES 2009
PR: Symwave, Inc., a semiconductor supplier of
high-performance analog/mixed-signal connectivity solutions for the PC,
consumer and mobile devices, announced today it will demonstrate the
world's first consumer application of SuperSpeed USB 3.0, which is 10
times faster than legacy USB technology, at CES. Symwave is
collaborating with the leading test, cable, components, and hard drive
manufacturers to demonstrate the transfer speeds of USB 3.0 and will
showcase streaming data to and from external storage devices at speeds
previously unattainable.
Symwave claims that SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is poised to become the most
pervasive high-speed connectivity technology over the coming years. It
is backwards compatible with the more than 10 billion USB devices
shipped to date.
Link: Symwave
Software
Urban Design Announces Qu-s: Do More with Your
Desktop
PR: Urban Design Limited announces the release and the
immediate availability of Qu-s, a unique utility that adds
functionality to your Desktop.
Throw away that scrap paper for phone numbers, forget the whiteboard
for inspirational nuggets, and stop bookmarking the entire
internet.
Qu-s is the permanent answer for organizing all your temporary
items. Use Qu-s for storing Internet links, jotting down thoughts, and
remembering tasks.
But what makes Qu-s unique, is by utilizing the Desktop it keeps
what you need at your finger tips but out of your way. Using a
design-aware and simple interface, with fun and sophistication, Qu-s
uses advance features usually reserved for word processing applications
to bring organization to your ideas and your notes.
These and other features are as follows:
- Bullet, check boxes, and numbered lists
- File and Internet links with previews
- A built in browser with the capability of zooming web pages
- An automated system for storing and clearing completed tasks
- Multiple ways of organizing and displaying information
- Exporting content for use with other applications
Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard or higher
By not complicating a simple process, Qu-s is the program you've
wanted, the organizing tool you need, and the fast access and creative
linking you deserve.
Qu-s can be purchased online for $16.95. For more information on
Qu-s which includes a full interactive tour, or to download a fully
functional demo version, please visit the company website.
Link: Qu-s
Find Any File Searches for Files on Mac OS
Disks
PR: Find Any File 1.0.2 is a free program for Mac OS 10.4 and
later that lets you search for files on your disks, primarily on HFS
formatted ones.
Contrary to Spotlight, it does not use a database but instead uses
the file system driver's fast search operations.
This lets you search for file properties such as name, dates, size,
etc., but not for file content (use Spotlight for that)!
Find Any File can find files that Spotlight doesn't, e.g. those
inside bundles and packages and in inside folders that are excluded
from Spotlight search (i.e. system files), and Find Any File is fast.
Not always as fast as Spotlight, but faster than other, similar file
search tools you might find for the Mac.
Features
Find Any File has a few hidden gems:
- If you hold the Option key down while choosing Find, you are asked
for an administrator password - and then Find Any File will restart
with root permissions, being able to find really any file on your Mac's
volumes (something that Spotlight won't do).
- It sports a new hierarchical view for the found items. You can
switch to it using Command-2 or click on the right little icon at the
top of the results window.
- You can save your entered searches to files (they'll have the
extension ".faf"). You can later open them again from within the Find
Any File application, or you can double click them in the Finder - in
the latter case the search will automatically start, unless you hold
down the Option key while Find Any File opens the document.
Limitations
- This tool's design was inspired by the Classic Mac OS' Find File
application, hence its UI design might look a little old fashioned. And
the icons aren't snazzy, either.
- Using this tool on volumes that are not Mac (HFS, HFS+) formatted,
including network volumes, may not work well - or even not at all.
You'll notice. This won't change - it's the nature of this program to
depend on the efficient search operations designed for HFS
volumes.
- The user interface of this app gets sluggish when it's performing a
search. This is mostly out of my control, as this app is written in
REALbasic, which has a rather unsatisfying multithreading
implementation.
Key Features:
- Can search as root user
- Savable queries
- Folder view for results
New in version 1.0.2: Move to Trash works now; volume selection is
observed with root search and saved searches; results update after
moving items.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
Freeware
Link: Find Any File
Freeware BibleMemorizer Program Helps with
Memorizing Scripture
PR: BibleMemorizer is a program to help with memorizing
Scripture. It allows you to create files with lists of verses you want
to memorize, including the text of the verse and any categories you
create. It can also quiz you over your verses, either one at a time or
in multi-verse quizzes, and intelligently corrects your errors. By
default, it is now configured to ignore minor errors such as spelling,
capitalization and punctuation errors, but these settings may be
changed.
BibleMemorizer will compile and run on any operating system which
supports Qt. This currently includes Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and most
forms of Unix and BSD.
BibleMemorizer is both Open Source and Free Software. What both
these terms essentially mean is that you are free to copy and modify
BibleMemorizer as you wish, under certain conditions. You can even sell
copies for profit if you wish. Full source code for BibleMemorizer is
provided, which you are free but not always obligated to pass on to
others. See the license for more details.
The developer says he believes that releasing BibleMemorizer as open
source will allow God to best work through it, and he created the
program to serve God and others, not to make money. Allowing others to
copy and modify it ensures that it will be accessible to the greatest
number of people. It also provides the potential for other programmers
to contribute changes back to the project, which can improve its
quality.
Although Free Software as mentioned above does not always mean "zero
cost", BibleMemorizer is available free of charge. If you were
intending to buy a Bible memory program, you're asked to consider
giving the money to your church or a ministry that needs it.
BibleMemorizer now has integration with the Open Source Sword Bible
text project, via plugin support. The plugin is optional.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
System Support: PPC/Intel
Free
Link: BibleMemorizer
TypeIt4Me X 4.1 Completes Partially Typed Words
For You
PR: TypeIt4Me expands your abbreviations as you type, and
works in all applications, not just one. It also lets you define
meaningful abbreviations, so you can type them naturally, as part of
your writing, without memorizing - or reaching for - obscure
ctrl-cmd-xyz combinations.
Born in 1989, TypeIt4Me is still a teenager youthful 20 in human
years, yet old & mature in Mac years.
No matter how much you type, I'll save you wear and tear on those
wrists & fingers.
- Never type your full name or email signature again;
- Never hunt around for that standard contract clause;
- Type a short abbreviation and have it expand to a word, a phrase,
even several pages worth of text (with pictures, too);
- Trigger AppleScripts with your abbreviations instead of reaching
for a menu or pressing obscure keyboard combinations.
Anytime you enter text in your Mac by typing it at the keyboard,
TypeIt4Me can help you do it faster and more accurately. First you
define a number of abbreviations and the full text entries that they
represent, then you watch the Mac expand them on the fly even as you
continue typing!
New in version 4.1:
- TypeIt4Me 4.1 provides one new feature: a filter field just under
the list of clippings in the system prefs panel:
- Typing text in it will filter the list of abbreviations to show
only those which include the typed text in either the abbreviation or
the clipping.
- Fixes: plugged a memory leak or two.
System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
System Support: PPC/Intel
$27 shareware
Link: TypeIt4Me
X
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