According to this highly subjective survey, nearly 90% of internet users are running some version of Windows. I've used every major Windows release since 3.1, and I'm pretty much over it. Microsoft seems to have lost direction a bit, which is not that surprising considering how big they are. If you already have a market share of 90%, what's left for you to do? Basically it's just a matter of maintaining your customer base and not doing anything stupid that will alienate your customers.
Which brings me to Vista. Vista was released a year ago after about five years of development. It brings some fairly major changes in terms of user interface, not all of which are very intuitive, and to me it looks pretty tacky. (But hey, beauty's in the eye of the beholder. I know some people like the new look. Good for you.) Under the hood there are a lot of changes, some are good, some aren't. Microsoft should be congratulated for making security a priority with Vista.. but the implementation is pretty ordinary. User Access Control (UAC) is the method by which Vista secures itself, meaning that any time a program tries to do something "restricted" (access Operating System files, change system settings etc) a confirmation dialog pops up asking if you want to allow it. The problem is that if you want to do anything beyond basic tasks like writing an email or playing Solitaire, you'll find the UAC prompt becomes painfully familiar. Problems with this are documented elsewhere.
The 64-bit version of Vista brings improvements in some areas, so you can now use more than 2gb of memory. I spent some time at work during the week trying to debug an issue installing our software into 64-bit Vista, using a 64-bit JVM, and came to the conclusion that it's just more trouble than it's worth.
The other side of the Operating System coin is Mac OS X. Apple has been growing rapidly in consumer awareness (if not so quickly in market share) over the last few years, and with Apple's various marketing campaigns people are starting to realise there are alternatives to Windows. I got my first Mac in 2005, and have been a fan ever since. Apple have just released their latest OS, Leopard, two and a half years after their previous release. There are a whole lot of new features, ranging from the big new tools like Time Machine (automatic backup solution) to the minor changes. As usual, Apple pays attention to detail. The user interface is cleaner than it used to be, and it feels more coherent, despite having a few questionable "enhancements".
Of course, I'd get in trouble if I didn't look at some of the other options, at least briefly. Linux as a desktop operating system has come a long way, but I don't think it'll ever be mainstream. I use FreeBSD on my desktop at work, and I think it's a great, robust OS, but it's not the best desktop system for the average user. Linux/Unix are the obvious choice for any servers (despite the fact some people still choose to run Windows servers), but CmdrTaco summed it up when he said:
The year of Linux is long passed. Linux will have a strong position on the server for a long time, but as GNOME and KDE bickered with each other, Apple came along and gave the world a great desktop UNIX.
-- Slashdot, 13 October 2007
I think the biggest obstacle to Apple growing in (operating system) market share is that their OS is tied to their hardware. I can buy a PC from Dell, HP, or build my own from any backyard computer shop, and run Windows on it. But if I want to run OS X I need to buy a Mac. It's understandable, since I'm sure Apple make a lot more money from their hardware sales than the OS. But the main reason I would buy a Mac is for the OS. Of course, the quality control that Apple is afforded by only supporting their own hardware is fantastic, and Macs are beautiful machines. If they allowed OS X to be installed on to ordinary PCs they would certainly lose some of the image they have of having the most elegant computer systems available. So it's a bit of a catch 22. The way I see it, Apple will continue to grow, albeit slowly, and unless Microsoft do something pretty radical with their next OS, they will eventually lose out. It's interesting to see how different the two companies are, especially since they came from similar backgrounds. If you haven't already seen it, check out Pirates of Silicon Valley.