Re: All this shows me....
@Uffish - "Suppose it were possible to get an accurate snapshot, or 3D animated GIF, of such a thing - what use would it be?"
Well, companies who are in the business of selling hardware, software, and services associated with Windows would like to have accurate market share numbers so that they can compare those with their own sales figures to see how they are doing.
Is XP use declining while Windows 8 increasing? If so, then if the sales figures for the Windows 8 version of your product are flat, then your own market share figures have a problem. If sales are going the other way, then you can tell if your sales force are doing a good job, or if they're simply benefiting from increased sales of Windows 8.
For people working in the technology business in general, they like to have a good idea where the market in general is going, so they can focus their personal energies on things that have a future.
For web browser usage figures (another thing people look at), it tells you if you should be taking a closer look at how well your web site works with particular browsers. You don't want to use just your server stats, since you can't tell if certain browsers aren't showing up as much because people are no longer using them, or if it's because visitors got fed up with bugs in your web site that your Mac using iPhone toting web design consultants are oblivious to.
On the other hand, extending the decimal places too far to the right in the numbers will make you see trends that aren't there. Was a bump in Windows XP in the December figures due to people using old PCs at home over the Christmas holidays, or was it just random noise? Look at all the news stories which try to "explain" each twitch of the figures based on speculation that these numbers are accurate. These are the data points upon which a lot of speculative extrapolation is based, and we need to be skeptical about them because the data to support it just isn't there.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
