This “Which OS do you prefer?” poll by Endgadget needs a qualifying “Have you used any other operating systems?” I’ll wager many of the Windows voters have never even tried Linux or Mac OS X while many of the OS X an Linux voters have long tried, if not downright used, Windows. I’ve used Windows (from 3.1 till XP and a month or so of Vista hell), Linux (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Suse, couple others) and Mac OS X. OS X is my favourite (though the latest Ubuntu Linux is darned good.)
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paulmwatson
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paulmwatson
My “When Obama Wins” Flickr image just took a big up swing in visits. People are searching for “Obama wins” a lot more than they were yesterday. (More When Obama Wins from Kottke.)
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paulmwatson
Microsoft’s Sensor Map reminds me a bit of Open Spime (based on Bruce Sterling’s Spime idea.) An open network of recording devices located in space and time is a fascinating idea; CO2 levels, temperature, pressure, noise, light, humidity, images, audio, WiFi signals, passing RFIDs etc. etc.
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paulmwatson
I saw the Fisher Price Smart Cycle on telly last night. The great outdoors should just give up and go home.
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paulmwatson
A band, Francis and the Lights, have registered themselves as a business and taken investment money instead of signing up with a record label. I hope this works out. (via Chris Gallagher.)
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paulmwatson
More than you ever wanted to know about the user interface design of an iPhone application. Fascinating.
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paulmwatson
Flickr can outline countries, continents, cities and even neighbourhoods using geo information from all those Flickr photos. Amazing.
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paulmwatson
Got an error message? What Does This Error Message Mean is a simple but clever way to find solutions to error messages, or suggest your own.
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paulmwatson
Meet Inbetween Us is a clever, simple app. that suggests places between two locations for people to meet. Choose by venue type too e.g. food, bar, theatre, Apple Store. Between Dublin and Waterford it suggested Tullow, not bad.
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paulmwatson
I just spent three hours filling XPlanner in. Not a good use of my time but process demands it.
CrasH 8:43 am on March 19, 2009 Permalink |
OS X seems to me to be the best of both worlds. If you can get over the expensive hardware required to run it [legally], but recall that hardware lasts a LONG time in most cases, then here’s how it breaks down.
Windows is/was/tries to be easy. Easy to use. Easy to learn. Easy to write, install, and use software for.
Windows is not cheap, especially when buying a boxed copy off the shelf. It often is reported anecdotally as less stable than Unix and its variants.
OS X tries to be beautiful, easy to use, easy to write/install/use software for, have a software library reflective of the needs and wants of its consumer base, and achieves stability and security. It is built on UNIX, but a lot of the harder, more dangerous parts of UNIX are hidden from the user (short of knowing the command line).
OS X is relatively inexpensive, c. $100.
Linux is not always as pretty as OS X, but in some case can be just as pretty (Ubuntu can be made to look like OS X or like Vista or like XP, etc.) if not more so. There are some great original themes for many of the distributions. Linux is customizable. Even for non power users, there is likely to be a distribution already tailored to suit you very well. Software installation is easy (apt-get), which was no always the case. I remember the days of downloading and RPM, then trying to install it…or installing from source. Those options are still available, but apt-get makes it easier.
Linux keeps up with trends (desktop eye candy or apt-get as a response to the difficulty of installing software), in many cases outdoing them. Linux can do pretty much all the visual effects of OS X and plenty more.
Linux is free.
In the end, OS X costs more than Linux, but less than Windows, is easy to use, perhaps more so than Windows, though not as familiar or ubiquitous, easier than Linux for a newbie though. OS X does have eye candy and stability and security like Linux, but has a larger professional software library with ease of installation like Windows.
OS X is right in the middle. I’d say OS X is for people who want the advantages of GNU/Linux / Unix, but don’t mind paying a little to get the ease of use and lack of overwhelming control and its implications. OS X gives a pretty strong software library like Windows, but doesn’t cost as much.
The place Linux and Windows beat OS X is in hardware choice. Linux and Windows run on everything. OS X only legally runs on Apple’s hardware.
I currently use OS X Leopard after years on DOS, Win 3.11 for WG, Win 95, Win 98 SE, Win 2000, Win Me (less than a week), Win XP, and Win Vista. I’m actually playing with the beta of Windows 7. I’ve been in and out of Linux since the late 1990’s. I never learned it as throughly as I’d like. I’m changing that this summer. Oh, and my server runs Ubuntu 8.10, my production machine (grad student, so papers, research, projects, slide shows, recording interviews and lectures and archiving them, etc…plus banking, music, movies, e-mail, etc.) is an MBP with Leopard. But since I don’t play enough games to justify having a console I never use, I keep XP (and later, Windows 7 probably) as a dual boot option on my MBP with an Xbox 360 controller for Windows in my laptop bag along with a couple games. Many of them are on PC and console now anyhow, so, why not?
The best OS is the one the user feels gives him/her the most value for the money, on the right hardware, that’s as easy to use, stable, and powerful as the user needs, that has the software he/she wants and needs, and ultimately is an enjoyable experience when using.
For me, I become three different users. The one running the home server (and so much more) uses linux. The one playing games runs a Windows version. The one doing his day to day work, especially his current assignment…grad school…uses OS X Leopard and enjoys it.