Mac or PC or Linux

[JoeyGee]

I'm no expert, but isn't the MAC OS based on UNIX? Isn't Linux a flavor of UNIX? So really, aren't there only 2 choices?

I support Windows all day. The last thing I want to do when I get home is mess around with PC's. There was a time when I had stacks of PC's, but not any more. I have one Windows desktop with no bells and whistles, and I like that.

That being said, I want computers to be fun for me again. My next computer will likely be a MAC. If for nothing else, it's different. Yes, I know Linux is different. I have played with Ubuntu and liked it. I just want a MACBook Pro .

[LinuxRandal]

I'm no expert, but isn't the MAC OS based on UNIX? Isn't Linux a flavor of UNIX? So really, aren't there only 2 choices?

Mac OS, is a gui, on top of BSD (Mach kernel for Nextstep project). An article years back by I, Cringly, suggested that Microsoft, focus doing that with Windows for its future.

Linux is NOT (can't emphasize this enough) Unix. There is still a lawsuit trying to prove otherwise, since 2003, while the person they say are the ones it is based off of (Minux creator and posix standard) say otherwise. Comments otherwise, strongly do it a disservice.

[BobSch]

Windows at home.

Work:
Windows from NT4 on
Several different Linuxii
Solaris
VMS
Several custom OSs in control systems.

[JoeyGee]

Linux is NOT (can't emphasize this enough) Unix. There is still a lawsuit trying to prove otherwise, since 2003, while the person they say are the ones it is based off of (Minux creator and posix standard) say otherwise. Comments otherwise, strongly do it a disservice.

And I thought this thread would be a battle between Windows and Macs .

I did say "I'm no expert..."

[thrytis]

I regularly use both vi and emacs, with vim and xemacs being the preferred flavors. It all depends on the type of editing i'm doing at the moment.

It was very liberating four years back getting rid of the second OS.

[gerti]

Desktop: Mac Servers: Linux. Work on Macs (software design) all day (OPENSTEP and NeXTSTEP before that), wouldn't have it any other way.

[rberrybabylon]

Ubuntu rocks

At work, we're a Windows shop. At home, it's a different story. My XP system has a dual boot with Ubuntu linux. Thankfully, Ubuntu has progressed so far as a desktop system that there are very few tasks that require me to boot up the Windows OS. The big one is implementing a VPN to our office system. I find it a little too touchy and complicated in linux so I use Windows when I work from home and need to connect to my office work station.

If I could, I'd gladly use linux for everything and never look back. I think (and hope) that day will come.

[twistsol]

I'm a recovering Mac bigot and former Apple employee and developer. I've finally come around to the realization that computer choice doesn't much matter. My Mac ticks me off a couple of times a day, my XP laptop ticks me off more often but they both work. Visio and MS Money are the only reasons I have windows on my Mac. Linux is just a toy for me; I've installed it and played with it but I haven't yet found a compelling reason to use it over win or mac.

We have 5 Macs in the house, four of which also run Windows XP and one of those four has Fedora installed as well. The fifth is an OSX server that handles backups, email and voicemail.

There are six other machines that mostly run XP although LOML's laptop is Vista Ultimate and she really likes it.

[sparkeyjames]

I have used Linux since probably late 1999 or early 2000 as my main personal computing OS. Why you ask? Well I had a Windows 98 OS before then and it got hit with virus infections on a regular basis and that was with an up to date anti virus installed. I figured if the black hat hackers can beat Microsoft/Norton with such ease what good is having that OS. I then consigned all Windows based OS's to gaming only status and have run Linux/KDE for everything else since.

[OpaDC]

I have used Linux since probably late 1999 or early 2000 as my main personal computing OS. Why you ask? Well I had a Windows 98 OS before then and it got hit with virus infections on a regular basis and that was with an up to date anti virus installed. I figured if the black hat hackers can beat Microsoft/Norton with such ease what good is having that OS. I then consigned all Windows based OS's to gaming only status and have run Linux/KDE for everything else since.

I use both Windows and Mac. Have used Linux starting with Redhat and now one Ubuntu but rarely turn it on. Except for the virus part, I honestly haven't found anything much better or worse on any OS.
My biggest fear with Mac and Linux is that WHEN the hackers decide to really go after them, the floodgates will be open. That being said, I'm not a programmer and don't know the internal security differences between them.

[radhak]

My biggest fear with Mac and Linux is that WHEN the hackers decide to really go after them, the floodgates will be open. That being said, I'm not a programmer and don't know the internal security differences between them.

You don't have much to fear : the Linux/unix world is much tougher to crack than Windows, and a much more hostile environment for the virus to spread. The oft quoted refrain "Windows is only targetted more because it has a bigger market share" is not borne out by the factual differences between Windows and the other OSes.

Truth be told, there are millions of Unix server installations out there today with enough 'glory' for hackers if they succeed with a real virulent virus for them, but you'd be hard-pressed to recall any major unix virus. There's a lot written about this, I can point you to just one here.

[sparkeyjames]

You don't have much to fear : the Linux/unix world is much tougher to crack than Windows, and a much more hostile environment for the virus to spread. The oft quoted refrain "Windows is only targetted more because it has a bigger market share" is not borne out by the factual differences between Windows and the other OSes.

Truth be told, there are millions of Unix server installations out there today with enough 'glory' for hackers if they succeed with a real virulent virus for them, but you'd be hard-pressed to recall any major unix virus. There's a lot written about this, I can point you to just one here.

Nice link to that article. Every bit of it is the truth. There is just too much system based security measures in a Linux/unix type system for a virus to get very far. Almost no system security and vulnerability holes you could drive a 640mb* program through are what make Windows the number one hacker target.

* yes it's a Bill Gates reference.

If Radhak's linked article did not give you pause to think. This article surely will....
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sec...e_bank_on.html

[thrytis]

Unix has had its major worms, but it was long enough ago that most people probably never realized anything major was happening. People learned from that, and started using safer practices. For example, you won't find mail daemons running as root any more except for maybe a very minimal component. Of course the kernel didn't have to change to improve security, it was mostly a matter of how it was configured out of the box.

[Ed62]

I'm running Windows XP. I don't think this subject is any more apt to cause problems than one about HF.

Ed

[parnelli]

IVisio and MS Money are the only reasons I have windows on my Mac.

OT, but had you seen that MS has discontinued Money? All online access thru money will end when your 2 year timeline is up. And since not many people purchased since the last tangible release of 2007, it's probably soon.