Perceived Value Proposition of Operating System Software Users

Operating system software market is witnessing a structural change. This market has three major Players Namely, Microsoft, Apple Mac and Linux. Microsoft operating system emerged as one of the dominant players in the market. Microsoft was the dominant player in the market for almost two decades. However, in the recent past Microsoft has considerably lost its market share in operating system products from 94.38% in June 2007 to 83% in May 2013. It has been established that customers are moving away from Microsoft to either hardware integrated or open source operating system. This paper makes an attempt to analyze the perceived performance and innovations across three major players. The data was collected through a survey. The research identified that the perceived utility of operating system is in general significantly influenced by ease of use, customer support and value for money features. The number of versions or product up gradation is significantly influenced by market share, R&D expenditure, income and gross profit.