Microsoft’s share of computers which are connected to the Internet and has declined to below 90% according to the research firm Net Applications Inc.

According to the published report, 89.5% of Internet users who connected to websites monitored by the company, used Windows OS.

Microsoft’ decline was to the advantage of Apple’s OS X which grew to 8.9% in November.

Other operating systems such as the open source Linux platform, gained less than a percentage and are still far behind in their adoption rates.

Net Applications stated that the decrease in the use of Windows OS is also correlated with a lower usage of Internet Explorer. The company found that the market share for Internet Explorer went under 70% for the first time in November. The Firefox browser moved just above 20% and Apple Safari was third at 7.1%.

It is important to note that computers with non-Micorosft OS and browsers gained in months with fewer work days since most businesses have Windows-based computers, while Apple computers are more common in homes. This was true for the Thanksgiving holiday in November and is likely to be true again for the holiday season in December.