[PCWorld]

Post your comments for OS Showdown: Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. Windows here

[mikalg]

Showdown???? More like OS Descriptions....
Yet another hype title, with no story.

[boblow]

This article is badly researched...specifically the articles cross-referenced pertaining to Linux are extremely outdated -- most are well over a year old!! Anyone who tries Linux today (especially the more "popular" distros) will find that the issues brought up have all but evaporated.
These purported "issues" are standard FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt) and responsible journalists of reputable publications such as PC World should really know better.

[dbdouglass]

Where's the beef? This purported "showdown" is disappointing to say the least. My personal experience: I tried three times to find a desktop alternative to Windows: once in 1999 - no go; it was buggy and not ready for prime time, then 2001 and essentially the same result as the first attempt. Finally, in the summer of 2005, I tried Fedora Core 1 and ZOW! I found what I was looking for. Since then, I have tried dozens of distros of Linux and have settle on Linux Mint for my Thinkpad Notebook. So many advantages over Windows XP or Vista, I can't begin to recount them here. Suffice to say the Free and Open Software Solutions (FOSS) are there and worth the trouble of the transition. Linux just keeps getting better and better. Try it today you'll find a lot to like.

[ahumanbean]

I don't know how someone could say OSX is the best alternative. OSX is a ripoff of Linux. They look almost identical. I am no IT expert and I was able to set up Ubuntu with little problem and no hardware issues. I am more than ready to switch everything to Linux.

[iwontrememberthistomorrow]

This is a joke. Windows runs everything? Stupid.
Windows only has a niche market for idiots. It's "huge software base" features nothing more than MS Office (and OpenOffice.org is a far superior replacement with better compatibility and functionality) and a couple other expensive proprietary apps.
Linux is free, customizable and scalable. It was built for a multi-user environment. It was made with stability and security in mind and was meant for a few administrators with control of the system and many terminal users with limited privileges (contrary to Windows, which in my opinion is its single biggest fault). And your "chemical modeling" application thing is exactly opposite of true. I worked on a materials simulation team for 2 years and all of our boxes were Linux machines because they can be scaled, networked, tweaked and admined the way computers are supposed to be. You can't do a single one of those on Windows.
What a terrible article.

[JaywalkerExtraordinaire]

{quote}OSX is a ripoff of Linux. {quote}

Mac OS X is a direct descendent of NeXTSTEP, which is based on BSD Unix. NeXTSTEP, developed by Steve Jobs' company NeXT Computer, predates Linux by a few years.

The Linux community has copied both Mac and Windows desktops, as well as created original desktops, some of which are rather ingenious.

[dbdouglass]

I agree with the comment about OS X; I have used the 10.4 and the 10.5 versions (Tiger and Leopard) and I have found that there is nothing that you can do with OS X that you can't do with a Linux desktop such as Gnome or KDE. I have used all of the most popular Linux distros and have found that Linux Mint provides the best ease of use. I have had a Linux production desktop for five years now and never paid a cent for any of the ones I tried. That and the Cost to Own for Linux is much lower than for Windows due not having to invest in antivirus software. The Open Office Suite that comes with the Gnome desktop is free of charge and compatible with MS Office. It is nearly 2009 folks and there is a quite capable desktop available and its name isn't preceded by Microsoft.

[taustin1382]

I dont know that I would say gnome copied mac.
I mean I know gnome has bars at the top and bottom but we are not talking about a dock, finder, menu similarities, etc. gnome is not a mac clone. KDE has a single button to access a task menu which is semi windows like but gnome is not a mac clone my any stretch of the imagination.



that story left alot to be desired. please name articles appropriately.... lets try: descriptions of different OS's, or how to find 2 year old links as references for an OS

that makes extreme improvements and strides in the right direction every 6 months.....

[JaywalkerExtraordinaire]

{quote}I dont know that I would say gnome copied mac.{quote}

Neither would I. I consider Gnome to be an environment and toolset to create a desktop; Gnome happens to have a default configuration, but that configuration does not, by itself, fully represent Gnome. Linux users have utilized Gnome's (as well as KDE's) customization options to clone Mac and Windows desktops, sometimes right down to the Apple menu icon. Here is an example of what I mean.

Here is an example of an original and ingenious Linux desktop.

I think broadly comparing Gnome (or KDE or other desktop environment) to the Mac desktop is a bit like comparing C to MS Word. The two are nothing alike, yet C could be utilized to create a word processing program remarkably similar to Word, if one desired to do so. I should have been more clear in my previous post.

[ahumanbean]

I know Mac fans like to bring up the bogus history that shows the Mac OS came before Linux, but your very words show it to be a falsehood. Steve Jobs took a derivative of Unix to create what became OS X. However, Linux predates OS X by far and is also a UNIX derivative. When you compare the look of the UI they are almost identical. Mac stole the Linux/GNOME look, not the otherway around.

[taustin1382]

if I remember correctly mac always had the top and bottom bars similar to osx. gnome also uses double bars but not the dock concept it uses a taskbar setup on the bottom like windows and a launcher bar on top like mac. kde is somewhat windowsish but I have noticed more peopple like gnome right off the bat coming from windows.... kind of counter intuitive.


I have see many people make vista in to a mac clone using rocket dock or other launchers. Im talking almost exact wallpaper and all.... top bar is a little hard to replicate.

to each his own. I like gnome for most thing. I have used lighter gui's for basic servers or no gui at all for very light servers. fluxbox/xfce works just fine if you just need basic gui functions. even xfce can be made pretty if you are so inclined :D



fluxbox has lots of great plugins for server info its actually quite nice for servers. instant access to anyhting on the OS you want with two clicks. very strange at first but once you get used to it its great.... I dont think I would want to use it every day on a desktop but for servers its very useful.

[dbdouglass]

"The first version of Mac OS X was released on March 24, 2001, as Max OS X 10.0 Cheetah..." this from Amit Singh's comprehensive and authoritative tome:" Mac OS X Internals, a Systems Approach" another quote from Singh: "Mac OS X is a mix of several technologies that differ not only in what they do but also in where they came from, which philosophies they represent, and how they are implemented. It is a fact that a lot of Mac OS X code was derived from BSD Unix. Apple, NeXT , and Open Source software are the main sources of Mac OS X code and much of the effort from the late 1980's although Mac OS X was not released to the market until 2001 as indicated above.

Linux originates from a kernel written by Finnish student Linux Torvalds in the early 1990's and supplemented by utilities ported over to Open Source from many individual authors and licensed under the GPLlicense. The Linux kernel and its packaged utilities that make up the individual "distro" of which there are literally hundreds extant right now, many free for the downloading and burning to disc. Linux was inspired in large part by Unix which is the grand momma or daddy if you will of all most micro computer operating systems that live today.

There are two forces in operating systems: those who believe that software should be free and those who want to copyright everything and charge you for it. Some folks feel more compfortable if they pay several hundreds of dollars and get that multi-page EULA with their s/w. When you read the fine print on any software, there is really no guarantee that it is going to work in every case. I happen to believe with the folks of the free and open persuasion. It is ok to be a fan of MS, Apple, or OSF. I do think one should know something before they try to argue about it on a community discussion board like this one. I see a lot of partisan ignorance at work here. I won't reply to any more posts. I just took the time to research some of the claims flying around here. Take or leave it as you will and enjoy your computer whoever wrote the code that runs in it.

[JaywalkerExtraordinaire]

{quote}Linux predates OS X by far and is also a UNIX derivative.{quote}

Linux is not a Unix derivative. Linux is a Unix clone. There is a big difference.

{quote}When you compare the look of the UI they are almost identical.{quote}

Have you ever actually seen and used OS X? There is very little similarity between Gnome and OS X. OS X has much more in common with Classic Mac OS than with Gnome. The biggest difference is that OS X has the Dock, which originally appeared in NeXTSTEP. Mac desktops have never looked like Gnome without Gnome installed.

[JaywalkerExtraordinaire]

{quote}f I remember correctly mac always had the top and bottom bars similar to osx. gnome also uses double bars but not the dock concept it uses a taskbar setup on the bottom like windows and a launcher bar on top like mac. {quote}

The Dock is OS X's "launcher bar". The menu bar at the top of the screen is similar to the menu at the top of each window in Windows & most Linux desktops. It also includes the Apple menu, which contains system related commands (e.g. Sleep, Log Out) and applications (e.g. Software Update), and also menulets (on the right), which includes drop down menus for Spotlight, Time/Date, battery status, etc.

For my typical trackpad-centric workflows, the menu bar at the top of the screen, as well as the Dock (with auto-hide) at the bottom of the screen are invaluable time savers. If I used a different OS (instead of OS X), I would have to be able to implement those features. I must admit, however, that the desktop for SymphonyOS looks very interesting and efficient for mouse/trackpad users; I may have to download it and give it a try.

[WinTard]

Although I am fashionably late to this discussion, it is the first time I stumble on it.

Let's face it everybody, there is no Ultimate OS, like there is no ultimate race, or car. It's the variety and competition, that fuels progress.

The reason I do not think Apple will make it in the corporate world, is they are a single hardware manufacturer, and purposely try to differentiate themselves by making everything incompatible with common standards. Their business strategy is based on captive-market thus the reason they make everything incompatible and non-stardard. End users normally do not care about being locked in to a single manufacturer, but most businesses do. In the corporate world, many have policies to choose industry standards, with at least three competitive suppliers. Until the day viable and proven Apple clones appear, that single dependency will be the limiting factor to Apple. Thus explaining their focus on the individual consumer market segment.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Apple designs good quality hardware and software. But this illusion of supremacy, or superiority is mere marketing brainwash for the simple-minded uneducated general public looking for a consumer oriented product.

Enough said, I don't want to turn this thread into yet another futile debate of Apple vs the world.

I entirely agree with the most sensible reply IMHO to this thread, that of:

dbdouglass wrote:
12. Dec 26, 2008 10:07 PM in response to: ahumanbean
Re: OS Showdown: Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. Windows

{Snipped}

There are two forces in operating systems: those who believe that software should be free and those who want to copyright everything and charge you for it. Some folks feel more compfortable if they pay several hundreds of dollars and get that multi-page EULA with their s/w. When you read the fine print on any software, there is really no guarantee that it is going to work in every case. I happen to believe with the folks of the free and open persuasion. It is ok to be a fan of MS, Apple, or OSF. I do think one should know something before they try to argue about it on a community discussion board like this one. I see a lot of partisan ignorance at work here. I won't reply to any more posts. I just took the time to research some of the claims flying around here. Take or leave it as you will and enjoy your computer whoever wrote the code that runs in it.