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I use Linux on my home computer primarily for ideological reasons (I'm part of the crowd that thinks free software is the future).
The main practical advantage of Linux today is its ease of management and the lack of licensing costs if you use Linux. That is, Linux is probably the best OS on every office computer, including both workstations and the servers.
For a home computer, especially a gaming pc, Windows is easily a better choice.
Why anyone would ever pick Mac over Windows or Linux is beyond me (every use case I can think of where I would pick Mac over Windows, I would pick Linux over Mac).
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United States3824 Posts
Oddly enough I'm running all three at this point (as well as KDE over backtrack for the haxx0rs ) and they all offer something different for me. OSX in my laptop provides me with the GUI stuff that I want for ease of access as well as Terminal and X11 for my Unix/Linux needs. I mean they all have cool stuff, you know?
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i've installed Ubuntu for the GCC compiler i had to use for my programming class, and it reminded me why i hated Linux compared to XP... i couldnt just press a "Compile" button like i do in Visual C++... instead i had to type out commands and shit...
i mean really? typing commands for me is the olden days... back to DOS... it just blew... and having to look hard for a driver to get my wireless network card to work just plain out sucked.
And the kicker, there's no decent games for Linux without having to use Wine...
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as a desktop environment linux is so far ahead due to the amount of customization it allows. for example if i want some programs to run at startup you just learn a few commands and type it into the config or whatever. and if your computer is fairly old you can tell it to wait Xamount of seconds so it doesnt bog down. i found vista to be lacking this very desirable feature. 
oh yeah and virtual desktops are so good. i cant believe windows hasnt implemented it yet.
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On August 24 2009 07:27 cgrinker wrote:Oddly enough I'm running all three at this point (as well as KDE over backtrack for the haxx0rs  ) and they all offer something different for me. OSX in my laptop provides me with the GUI stuff that I want for ease of access as well as Terminal and X11 for my Unix/Linux needs. I mean they all have cool stuff, you know? Do you run those on separate machines? I'm running all three from my Macbook Pro, and man, I could write pages about how frustrating that was before I finally got it figured out.
On August 24 2009 08:03 jello24 wrote: i've installed Ubuntu for the GCC compiler i had to use for my programming class, and it reminded me why i hated Linux compared to XP... i couldnt just press a "Compile" button like i do in Visual C++... instead i had to type out commands and shit...
i mean really? typing commands for me is the olden days... back to DOS... it just blew... and having to look hard for a driver to get my wireless network card to work just plain out sucked. GCC is a compiler, not an IDE like Visual C++. There's several IDEs available for Linux that offer similar functionality to Visual Studio.
I don't mind the command line so much. It's actually quite handy for some things; In windows for example, I can look up the IP information by going into control panel, then navigating my way to network stuff, opening up properties and getting the IPv4 properties... or i can open up the command prompt and type "ipconfig /all." Much easier.
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I've used many versions of Windows, OS X, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and some edu Linux distro's and I've never been inclined to stop using Windows as my main os. 7 is great, I liked Vista as well, never had any issues with it.
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btw I know mac users that wouldn't be able to set up linux
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On August 24 2009 08:03 jello24 wrote: i've installed Ubuntu for the GCC compiler i had to use for my programming class, and it reminded me why i hated Linux compared to XP... i couldnt just press a "Compile" button like i do in Visual C++... instead i had to type out commands and shit...
Hahahahaha, you just made my day.
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United States3824 Posts
On August 24 2009 08:56 writer22816 wrote: btw I know mac users that wouldn't be able to set up linux
I think that the majority of mac users aren't using OSX for its nice Unix stuff and being able script in bash.
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I laugh hard at this XP > Vista faggotry because i remember when people were swearing that they would never switch to XP when it first came out because of how terrible it was (and then they all fell in love with SP2) Now everyone is praising Vista SP2 (windows 7) when they don't realize that Microsoft has been pulling that marketing ploy forever.
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United States22883 Posts
On August 24 2009 08:53 GogoKodo wrote: I've used many versions of Windows, OS X, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and some edu Linux distro's and I've never been inclined to stop using Windows as my main os. 7 is great, I liked Vista as well, never had any issues with it. This is exactly it for me. I'd go with some Linux distro if I were using a netbook or I needed to run kiosks (part of my job atm), but it's too much time investment at home, especially when 7/Vista have always run like a charm for me. I think XP is horribly overrated though (every reported speed test is done on an empty hd with a fresh install) and I don't find 10.5 very appealing.
Part of it is the hardware, since I have to fix/upgrade them as well and Macs are a bitch to open up, but there's nothing in the OS that's useful for me besides Exposé, which I've got working on Vista. And from my own experience, the stability argument is bullshit. In the past 3 months, I've had 4 OSX install failures out of 20 machines and other crashing issues. If it were as good as most people claim, DiskWarrior wouldn't be doing so well.
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United States47024 Posts
On August 24 2009 08:03 jello24 wrote: And the kicker, there's no decent games for Linux without having to use Wine... Screw you, Dwarf Fortress kicks ass.
I've found Linux native versions of HOMM3 and Alpha Centauri as well.
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dunno man, but Windows 7 rocks
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On August 24 2009 09:16 ghermination wrote: I laugh hard at this XP > Vista faggotry because i remember when people were swearing that they would never switch to XP when it first came out because of how terrible it was (and then they all fell in love with SP2) Now everyone is praising Vista SP2 (windows 7) when they don't realize that Microsoft has been pulling that marketing ploy forever.
Vista actually has a SP2 and it's not windows 7.
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I use Windows 7 but I have used Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Gentoo Linux and openSUSE before. I never took a liking to linux partially because I'm into game programming and to be honest, I don't really want to program games for linux...even running starcraft was a drag on linux..installing wine and then looking despair as starcraft ran at like 10 fps . Ah well. I might've just had a bad experience but who knows but i am considering slapping Backtrack on my laptop for...educational reasons
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Sydney2287 Posts
On August 24 2009 06:26 paper wrote: in my experience, OSX looks nice, but it's so damn hard to do anything efficiently, especially with limited customization and counter-productive mouse acceleration
pretty animations really cap the speed you can work at, and it doesn't help that things seem to load so slowly (even on the MBP)
That's interesting, I have much the opposite experience. As a web designer and developer I find the workflow I've got on my MBP to be far superior to any setup I've come up with (And I've tried multiple times) on Vista, XP or Ubuntu. This is due to three things, OSX being unix underneath, the apps that are available that you just cannot get quality replacements for on Vista, XP or Ubuntu, and then the level of integration the apps have with each other and the OS makes things so much faster and more productive.
Examples of Apps that I really, really missed when I spilt milk on my laptop and was without it for 2 weeks:
- Things
- Billings
- Coda/Textmate (These are 2 that could conceivably have replacements on another OS, but in my experience in terms of the user experience, they are better)
- 1Password
- Quicksilver
- Not really an app, but spacebar preview in finder is ridiculously useful (Select any file and press spacebar, small window pops up showing you the file, then spacebar again removes window or you can scroll up and down files using the up and down arrows)
Things: GTD style todo list manager. Integrates with Calendar, system wide shortcut for collecting todos. At any point I think of something which I need to do, think might be a good idea or want to explore further, ctrl alt space and then type a few words describing the todo, and it's chucked in my inbox for sorting later on in the day.
Billings: Project timer and invoice generator. Puts a little timer in the silver bar at the top that you can start/pause as you work on specific parts of a project. Swap the timer for different 'slips' on your invoice, so when you change between say designing and then developing. Allows custom invoice templates. Also sends emails to your clients (emails found in address book) automatically with the invoices , and tracks payments. There are web versions of this but having tried many, none of them achieve the same level of integration with the OS to make it a seamless part of my workflow, which is important for my productivity.
Coda/Textmate: Everyone has a favourite text editor and swears by it so I wouldn't try and convince anyone of this.
1Password: Password manager and generator for all my passwords, very useful because I am regularly (at *least* once a day) having to make a new password or store in some way a new password from a client or friend. Again, not the first of its kind but it's the integration with the OS and other popular apps that you just do not find on Windows that makes this so much more powerful.
Quicksilver: The most important one here, ctrl space and then start typing the name of the app you want. Works for every app on your computer, even files. Doesn't just open apps though, has open with, run with, etc etc, so you can for example type pho (photoshop comes up) and then drag the files you want to open with it onto the popup window and it opens them with photoshop. Then it has plugins which allow you to call terminal commands instead of opening apps, or plugins to integrate it with other apps, so you might have a plugin which lets you type "/g starcraft strategy" and it'll open safari/browser of choice and search for "starcraft strategy" in google. With only 5 keypresses besides the term you want to search for, from any point that you are in the OS. Without Quicksilver I feel like I'm using an OS from 20 years ago.
The whole point of that was to demonstrate that the apps and their integration with other apps and the OS itself (widgets in the top bar, dock functionality) are what make my OSX experience far, far, far more productive than any setup I've tried on other OS's.
And to top it all off, if/when I eventually get an iphone, most of the productivity apps I have will be/are sync-able with iphone versions.
I'll be the first to admit that some of this might be possible with linux, but I sincerely doubt that without some serious custom coding, could I get the same level of integration covering all areas of my workflow.
Also this is very obviously specific to my requirements as a web designer and developer, for example someone else might not have the same requirements as me and can't find the apps to appease them. There are of course apps for other industries/areas of interest but I'm not aware of them because I'm not involved!
TLDR: OSX is the most productive environment I've ever had and it's in part due to the applications available, but largely due to how it allows them to integrate with the OS and other applications. I have had a lot of experience with all versions of windows except 7 and some experience with ubuntu.
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I'm using mac OS X and it's definitely crap. BWchart doesn't work on it. Nothing works on it and I still can't figure out how to alt-tab switch to the desktop while playing SC. I also use Linux at work.Debian. Ok, it's stable but I'll never use it at home. No game, no fun. And guess what, Flash sux on Mac OS and Linux.
Long Live Microsoft Windows. And the 7 is great.
PS : and if you are one of these crazy people who absolutely adore the Terminal, go back to the 80s and leave us alone
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Sydney2287 Posts
On August 24 2009 10:37 MK wrote: I'm using mac OS X and it's definitely crap. BWchart doesn't work on it. Nothing works on it and I still can't figure out how to alt-tab switch to the desktop while playing SC. I also use Linux at work.Debian. Ok, it's stable but I'll never use it at home. No game, no fun. And guess what, Flash sux on Mac OS and Linux.
Long Live Microsoft Windows. And the 7 is great.
PS : and if you are one of these crazy people who absolutely adore the Terminal, go back to the 80s and leave us alone
That reminds me that I forgot to mention, Being able to SSH without having to use cygwin is amazingly good.
Also, if you're trying to play games, OSX is probably not the choice for you. I am lucky in that I can use my PC for games and my MBP for work.
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On August 24 2009 10:42 Bockit wrote:Show nested quote +On August 24 2009 10:37 MK wrote: I'm using mac OS X and it's definitely crap. BWchart doesn't work on it. Nothing works on it and I still can't figure out how to alt-tab switch to the desktop while playing SC. I also use Linux at work.Debian. Ok, it's stable but I'll never use it at home. No game, no fun. And guess what, Flash sux on Mac OS and Linux.
Long Live Microsoft Windows. And the 7 is great.
PS : and if you are one of these crazy people who absolutely adore the Terminal, go back to the 80s and leave us alone That reminds me that I forgot to mention, Being able to SSH without having to use cygwin is amazingly good. Also, if you're trying to play games, OSX is probably not the choice for you. I am lucky in that I can use my PC for games and my MBP for work.
yeah. absolutely. Mac OS X has great potential and is very good when it comes to office work, design, video editing, blogging etc. BUT : 1-everything is f-expensive 2-no game, no fun 3-everything is F-EXPENSIVE
And when I pay 2000 EUR for a Mac, I'm looking forward to having something that will run everything without having to pay for additional contents.
Mac is overrated and definitely overpriced.
(Good point for Linux, it's free so I'm cool with it... but it's lame too since no game) (omg, I forgot to mention FreeBSD... my dad tried to force me to use this piece of F. omg, how the hell people can use that ? Oh... wait... ah, dad's from Berky... that's why. I knew he was a red. Damned)
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I have a macpro that I run OSX on for 3D development.. I'm not an expert but as far as I can tell its easier to make good software for mac, and a lot of the software out there is superb. I have not used windows very much but from what I've seen of XP it doesn't seem that bad.. I boot into it to play SC and other games, and just from the experience of setting it up the way I like it seems fine. I used a program called AutoHotKey to switch the control and windows keys so copy and paste are the same on win as on OSX, and it was pretty neat. I created an exe with it and found the startup items location, put it in, and it worked. Nice!
I feel like its not about how "good" the operating system is as much as how good the user is at adapting and using it efficiently.
That said, I wouldn't recommend any mainstream PC hardware after all the problems my friends have had with Dell and the like. Plus, windows is inferior to osx in some ways, like the inability to do two things to a file at once like run it and move it or delete it while its open.
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