Which Operating Systems Rule Your Campus?

Which of these do you see more often on your campus? Image courtesy of Flickr user Pandemia and licensed under CC by 2.0

Though Apple only controls 10% of the general computer market in the U.S., it's long been assumed that the company does better on college campuses where students are free to choose their own device. Even so, a recent study by the University of Texas (or view the highlights on Daring Fireball) on their internal network usage paints a fairly shocking picture, with 52% of "traditional wireless devices" such as laptops running OS X, and only 47% running Windows. 

Also surprisingly, 83% of mobile devices on campus were using iOS, and only 12% were based on Google's Android, despite Android's surging growth in the mobile phone market. 

The HackCollege readership follows similar trends, albeit not nearly as dramatically, with OS X accounting for roughly 1/3 of site visits from traditional desktops, and iOS powering about 70% of mobile visits. 

Apple's success in the education market is no surprise, given the excellent back to school promotions the company runs each summer, not to mention the generous educational discounts available year-round. That said, things could change for this year's incoming freshman class with Microsoft's amazing offer of a free Xbox with the purchase of a new computer. 

My challenge to you is this: go to the comments and estimate your school's OS breakdown. Obviously there's nothing scientific about this, but it could be interesting. Is Apple's presence as strong as your school as it is at UT? Does your school give away a computer or mobile device to all students, or require you to use a certain OS? It should be a fun conversation. 

[Via Daring Fireball]