Apple’s OS X operating system has climbed previously unforeseen heights: it now has an 8.2% market share. Hey, Windows, we can see your house from here.

This means Apple has realized a gain of 3 percentage points in two years—and 6 percentage points since 2003, when Panther could only scare up a 2% market share.

Windows still has its scaly grip on 90% of all operating systems, while the open source Linux (best known as the operating system of choice for people allegedly smarter than us) has almost 1% to call its own.

Interestingly, the iPhone is considered its own operating system. At .32%, it’s not nearly enough of a market share to rival Linux. But it’s far more entertaining.

The Mac OS saw a tremendous gain in November 2007, and the blogosphere speculated that OS X might top 8% earlier than it did. In fact, it was suggested that OS X would reach 10% by the end of 2008. Alas, although that number looks good to us, it’s a tad optimistic. And just plain wrong.

Then again, it’s only October 1.