a good little article explaining the significant difference between "market share" and "install base," especially as it relates to the computer world. it doesn't try to come back with real numbers ("Until a reputable research company can provide figures that measure the computer industry with install base dynamics, everything else is meaningless."") and does explain the significance of the difference and (for these uses) limited value of "market share" figures. i was struck in the airport this past weekend how many windows machines were doing duty as check in counters, ticket machines, etc. while those all make money for ibm/dell/toshiba/etc, none of those are what (i think) people are imagining when they see marketshare (i suspect people picture their multipurpose home or work computers). i wonder what the the percentages are for macintosh and linux marketshare (not ot mention installed base) once you subtract industrial uses like the airport stations, atms, and all the other computers that sit in a place doing only one thing all of the time.

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