Analyst firm IDC is spreading the love with their most recent report on PC sales data. "Dell Tops HP as Largest PC Supplier in US" trumpets CIO Magazine over the numbers, while HP modestly mentions in a press release "HP Named Largest Global PC Maker for 2007."

Personally I have been dissatisfied with both of them recently so none of this news is good news from where I sit. A bright spot may be found in the fact that both Acer (well, their not one of my favorites either) and Apple have improved their numbers in the past year, but the duel is clearly between HP and Dell both nationally and internationally at this point, with around 50% of both markets split between them.

If nothing else the competition should make for a healthy market at some point; with both manufacturers feeling the bite at different levels, some improvements in product and service are due in the coming year.

• The Great Hardware debate
• John Halamka's Dell tour
• Dell launches VM optimized servers
• Dell continues transition to services