What is the breakdown of U.S.-Based Windows users broken down by
operating system?  For example, how many U.S. users (in numbers or
percentage)are on the Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP desktop operating
systems.  If these number could be b roken down by business and home
users, that would be great.  I am also looking for the number of 56KB
users and the number of home users that plan on upgrading their
systems.

NYBige --

Just a week ago technology consultant Asset Metrix released survey
results from more than 372,000 PCs installed in 670 U.S. companies of
all sizes.  The survey was timely because of Microsoft's recent
announcement that it will stop supporting Windows 98:
ZDNet
"Microsoft to Ditch Older Products" (Dec. 9, 2003)
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5116216.html?tag=nl

The Asset Metrix study found these numbers -- and that the size of the
company did NOT determine whether or not the OS was recent.  Some 80%
of the companies had Win95 or Win98 -- and within those companies 39%
of the machines were running the "obsolete" OS:
Windows 95: 14.7%
Windows 98: 12.5%
Windows NT4: 13.3%
Windows 2000 (NT5): 52.6%
WinXP: 6.6%
WinME: 0.2%

There are some other interesting data points in this study too --
including that the Win98 machines tend to be PCs built in  late
1998/1999 -- suggesting that there is some "stickiness" in changing
software when applications are working:
Asset Metrix
"Usage Analysis and Operating Risks of Obsolete Operating Systems" (December, 2003)
http://www.assetmetrix.com/pdf/AssetMetrix%20Research%20Labs%20Win98%20Analysis.pdf

Though it's not strictly a U.S. analysis, Google itself publishes a
variety of data on usage of the search engine.  (You'll see that
English-language searches are more than half of the total.)  The OS
percentages in the period are:
Windows 98: 27%
Windows XP: 42%
Windows 2000: 19%
Windows NT: 3%
Macintosh: 3%
Windows 95: 1%
Linux: 1%
Other: 4%

Google.com
"Google Zeitgeist" (Oct.-Nov. 2003)
://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html


Data on modem penetration is available from a number of sources.  For
broadband (cable and DSL) is available from Cable Datacom News, which
estimates that U.S. market penetration is at 20% of the roughly 120M
U.S. households:
Cable Datacom News
"Cable Modem Market Stats & Projections" (Dec. 1, 2003)
http://www.cabledatacomnews.com/cmic/cmic16a.html

Nielsen Net Ratings also tracks modem/broadband usage and has just
released numbers for U.S. Internet connection speeds, which show 56K
modems to be the largest share -- but shrinking with the increased
penetration of broadband.  Nielsen reports also have significant
detail, noting that broadband penetration is strongest in urban areas,
particularly cities like San Francisco:
Nielsen Net Ratings
"Nearly 40 million Internet Users Connect Using Broadband" (June 17, 2003)
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_030618_us.pdf

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find a good number on home users with
upgrade plans.

Google search strategy:
1.	Used the ZDNet site to search for:
Windows + support

2.	Google Zeitgeist

3.  "modem usage" + Nielsen


Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Thank you, your ansewers were most helpful and we will use you again.