Operating System poll

[Evil Dave]

Gandalf Parker said:
people use Macs when they want a computer that will let them do all of the usual computer things without alot of experimentation into other things (and therefore a whole let less headaches).

Yup, that's why I do real work (and real play ) on Macs, and have one Linux system for when I want to play gearhead. Unless one is really hard up for money, there's really not much reason to use Linux (vs Mac): all the usual open source stuff builds just fine under Mac O/S, and everything else Just Works... unless you wanna fiddle with it.

[atul]

Hm, I currently have only WinXP, had Linux at work but after a year of very bad user experience (I want to do my work with my computer, not just work with my computer) I pleaded a change to Win and am not looking back...

Although, currently I'm looking for a new desktop, and I've been drooling over those 24-inch flatscreen iMacs. The crossplatform operation (okay, I mean playing games) is the only thing I'm worried about, otherwise I'm sold.

And to the age question, I'm 25 and many of my friends have switched to mac during the last year or so. So apparently it's changing.

[DominionsFan]

Good ole' window$ here.

[Uh-Nu-Buh]

Just a plug: for developers, the popular Linux variants rock. Fedora Core, for example, comes with everything you need to learn all you could want to learn about MySQL, PERL, Python, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Apache, etc. ad nauseum. Most of the tutorials out there are centered on Linux, or include Linux. Additionally, they pretty much work out of the box for most desktop applications. And it is all free, and runs well on older equipment.

Caveat #1, I love the MacOS. I just dislike the attitude it often engenders in users, or the attitude of the general person it attracts: hoplessness in the face of adversity. Hep me, hep me, I cain't hep mesef! Contrast this to the attitude linux engenders/attracts: roll up your sleaves, sweat a bit, learn a lot, and get it done. I have a friend who is 19 who just got a mac. He's been a pc/windows guy for years, but loves his mac. One of the things he hates is that he can't even add memory to it, for fear of violating the warranty. He still has his old pc at home for puttering/learning/expanding his consciousness with. He doesn't mess with the mac, just uses it for the 120 (or whatever number it is) things it comes preconfigured to do.

Caveat #2, WinXP is the best platform for gaming right now. I hate it, but I admit it. It has the most game titles, the best graphics performance, the most support for advanced drivers.... Blech. I live with it.

[Esben Mose Hansen]

Evil Dave said:
Yup, that's why I do real work (and real play ) on Macs, and have one Linux system for when I want to play gearhead. Unless one is really hard up for money, there's really not much reason to use Linux (vs Mac): all the usual open source stuff builds just fine under Mac O/S, and everything else Just Works... unless you wanna fiddle with it.

One thing I really love about linux machines is that all software gets upgraded and maintained automatically. Does that work as well on Macs, or do you have to upgrade each piece of software manually (as on windows?)

Also, while Mac can be usable as a dev machine with enough FLOSS software bolted on... I really wouldn't want to develop without the kernel sources and oprofile. But for knocking up a web page, I suppose it can work. But then, if you end up replacing every piece of software, why not save yourself the money and go for a full linux box?

Personally I do recommend Macs... to the truly computer illitterates. Windows for my-computer-is-really-my-console people, BSD for the I-learned-unix-in-the-70s-and-it-was-the-best-that-ever-was and linux for the rest.

[Dedas]

Linux aaaall the way baby!

[PrinzMegaherz]

I'm using OSX on my Macbook and Windows on my PC.

[Evil Dave]

Esben Mose Hansen said:

One thing I really love about linux machines is that all software gets upgraded and maintained automatically. Does that work as well on Macs, or do you have to upgrade each piece of software manually (as on windows?)

Sorta. Automagic upgrading is by "vendor", so the updater for Apple's stuff is built into the system, FinkCommander does all the open source, Adobe has their own tool, etc.

I really wouldn't want to develop without the kernel sources and oprofile.

You can get kernel sources, and source for everything open source in Mac O/S, from:

http://developer.apple.com/opensource/index.html

You can't get sources for their GUI/window manager, or any other service they've written themselves.

AFAIK, nobody's ported oprofile to Mac O/S, but gprof seems to work fine for what I do. (I'm not sure if the PPC has the right hardware to support some of the fancier things oprofile does. Despite having an PPC Mac on my desk, I admit I don't know the architecture as well as x86, Itanium, MIPS, or ARM.)

[HoneyBadger]

I use Windows XP currently, but in my defense, I knew how to do a LOT with DOS, back in the caveman days. True, it's not a great...whatever it is, but it's simplistic. The biggest problem with Windows is their quality-control. You can't beat it for versatility though-it's got a bug to fit every function.

[Gandalf Parker]

If you knew DOS then you should look at Linux.
Id say that 90% of your knowledge transfers over quite nicely. And would even be greatly appreciated since so many linux people are getting hooked on GUI (windowy things) that they sometimes have trouble doing simple things that dont have a menu button