Windows, Mac or Linux?

Great Debates
41

SPOOFE Bo Diddly writes:

: So these specialized OS’s are definitely going to run
: well, since they’re designed to do less overall.
: Ever wonder why Linux is cheap? It’s a simpler program.

Linux is an OS - saying it’s a “simpler program” is the wrong terminology. Without implying anything about their relative merits, I do not think it is simpler than Windows. If anything, it is has more complexity under the hood than Windows does. (Ever looked at the kernel source?)

I don’t particularly like Macs, but I do want to see Apple succeed in order to provide a competitor for MS. It’d also be nice if BeOS does well.

-b

42

My sentiments exactly (except that I’m a Mac user). I hope BeOS and Linux catch fire on the desktop, enough so that there’s a wide and diverse market for which to create software. And neither Apple nor Microsoft owning the market.

43

I personally own a PC that runs Win98. I’ve found it to be stable as long as you don’t jerk around with the system files and such. This makes it a suitable system for the common Joe who just wants to run a word processor or play games. Windows also makes it very easy to connect to the internet. I favor Windows above all others because I use it the most, I know its quirks, and I’ve learned what makes it work better and what makes it crash. Once you get to that point, it is a very nice OS.

However, I am not biased in favor of Windows. I have used other OSes as well. I’ve used a couple of MacOSes…I don’t remember which ones, but one was a lot older and it totally sucked, but the other one was 9, I think. 9 Was very nice, although confusing for the first 10 minutes to someone used to running Windows. However, I think the internet capabilities of Macs suck. It locked up on me a few times (4, I think) in less than an hour. All in all though, a good operating system, though a little cumbersome to a Windows user (Note: I played around with the OS for about 3 hours figuring out the quirks and stuff so I could accurately compare it to other OSes)

I’ve also used Linux. Since I have nothing but the basics of programming abilities, I couldn’t really tinker with the customizability. However, a friend of mine being a computer genius, played around with the system with me telling him how I wanted it customized, and in a very short time he had everything personally customized for my preferences. No glitches whatsoever, a completely stable system customized for me.

So lets compare:

Windows - Stable if you don’t mess with it; Compatability with just about everything; Easy, stable internet connections; Easy reinstallation in case you screw something up

MacOS - Very stable for running applications, though I had some problems with the internet (Probably just an isolated event); Faster for the most part than Windows; Not compatible with a lot of software without running virtual PC, which usually runs a lot slower than a real PC (Unless you have the top Mac processors); Somewhat cumbersome interface for users switching over from a different platform

Linux - Very stable and fast; Easily customizable by a programmer; Free; Easy to install and uninstall; Easy interface to learn (Not as difficult as everyone makes it out to be); Not compatible with a lot of software, but make good servers

That’s my comparison…I guess your preference is whatever you need it for.

44

Monster:

Technically, you have Microsoft and Sun to thank for that. Since the MacOS was windowing first and defined the paradigm (Yeah, yeah, I know Xerox), if you have issues with the differences, you have to ‘blame’ the ones that came after…

Believe me, when I first switched from MacOS to Windows I found it incredibly cumbersome… what am I saying? I still find it cumbersome… But now I switch back an forth pretty much every day.