When Leopard first launched, there was a great rush to compare it Vista. Mac fans being what they are, the problems associated with Vista migration just tend to egg them on.

Now that Leopard has been out for a while we can take a look at a more long-term comparison between the two operating systems, at least in terms of how they fare in social media discussions.

The graph below shows the percentage of positive blog sentiment over a 30-day period for Vista vs. Leopard.

The rising sentiment for Leopard and falling sentiment for Vista have also had an effect on how Apple and Microsoft are both viewed in social media. The graph below shows the sentiment for Apple and Microsoft over the same 30-day period.

For the month of November, sentiment for Leopard and for Apple has risen, with the overall Apple sentiment being impacted by positive Leopard sentiment. Though sentiment for Vista has steadily dropped, overall sentiment for Microsoft has held steady. With Microsoft in so many markets, the impact of just this one — albeit a very big piece of their market — hasn’t impacted the overall trend for sentiment across the Microsoft brand. It will be interesting to see how that changes as more people migrate to Vista and get new PC’s loaded with Vista.

Tags: Analyzing Consumer Generated Media, Brand Management, Mass Media/Culture //