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Survey: Leopard Tops in Consumer OS Satisfaction, Vista Far Behind

According to a survey released yesterday by Rockville, Md.-based ChangeWave Research, Apple's new Leopard operating system gets high marks from consumers, with Vista editions trailing the pack.

ChangeWave surveyed 4,604 consumers in the first week of January and found that 81 percent are "very satisfied" with the Leopard operating system, compared with 53 percent for Windows XP Home edition and 51 percent for Windows XP Professional.

Only 27 percent of Vista Home Premium users and 15 percent of Vista Home Basic users gave their operating system the top ranking.

"Leopard's high customer satisfaction not only dwarfs its competitors, but it's having a direct impact on consumer intentions to purchase an Apple computer," wrote ChangeWave's researchers regarding the results. "More than one in four respondents (26 percent) say the Leopard OS makes them more likely to buy an Apple computer in the future."

The survey also looks at consumer PC purchasing trends for the next 90 days, and according to the survey, the market "looks weak" -- 13 percent of the survey's respondents intend to buy a computer in the next 90 days, the lowest rate the researchers say they've seen in more than a year, and a drop of 3 percent from the same time last year.

More results from this survey can be found here.

About the Author

Becky Nagel is a contributor to Application Development Trends. She is the editor of ADT's sister sites CertCities.com, TCPmag.com and Redmondmag.com, and is co-editor of RCPmag.com. You can contact her at [email protected].