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Debate Wars

The great OS wars - Page 1

The great OS wars

Posted by: MissingNo
Date: 2009-02-15 15:28:57
I'm going to continue the debate that heated up on http://forums.glitchcity.info/index.php/topic,4384.0.html.

Here's my stance on operating systems:

Microsoft Windows
Windows has been prone to its' fair share of bugs and exploits, but I still hold strong to the older generation based off the NT core - Windows 2000. Windows 2000 has been fairly reliable (and so is XP, based off of my modifications). As you get closer to Vista and Seven, it turned more into becoming more security-oriented (with UAC, Firewall, Defender, etc) as the normal end-user doesn't really put much thought into those important necessities.

For embedded systems, it's a bit of a hit or miss. I've used Windows Mobile devices (an HTC XV6700 PocketPC cellular phone) and depending on what software it runs can make a difference. With the right tweaks Windows Mobile does work fairly good, until I handled an AT&T and HTC FUZE smartphone - Windows Mobile 6.1 was extremely laggy and bulky on the platform.

Linux
Noting that there are thousands of distributions, Ubuntu is the one that really takes a spotlight in today's markets. Linux is beginning to become more mainstream with more and more devices beginning to run the operating system. Consumers are beginning to purchase "netbooks", otherwise known as mini-laptops. Many of these, such as variants of the Dell Mini series, Asus EEE PC series, and the HP Mini Mi, run a variant of Ubuntu Linux, Xandros, or other distributions with manufacturer-specific modifications.

Mobile devices are also beginning to use Linux and some have used it for quite some time. Some of Motorola's phones such as the RAZR2 have been running a Linux varient, and the tried and true T-Mobile G1 also has taken its' stage with Android.

Mac OS
Also to be mentioned is Macintosh OS. Mac OS and most Apple products are geared more towards not just consumers, but production and editing. Programs like Adobe's InDesign and Photoshop, and Apple's Apeture and Final Cut are used notably on the Mac platform and are the de-facto industry standard for production.

In terms of mobile devices, there isn't much to really say, as Apple has not released the code used on their own embedded Mac OS X, called "iPhone OS", used in the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch. They have also not released info on the operating system used in their Apple TV product, a variant of Mac OS 10.4 'Tiger'.

In conclusion
Every OS has its fair share of exploits and bugs and different applications.
Your OS depends on what you need.

And now… let's debate.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Bent`
Date: 2009-02-15 15:49:06
I do appreciate the NT line, and it?s a shame it has so many security holes or I would like it even more. As it is 2000 and XP are very usable?I haven?t used Vista enough to comment on it, but the constant put‐downs about the OS reek of FUD. That said, I have no desire to pay for an OS ever again, so my only Microsoft machine (a laptop running Win2K) will probably never be upgraded.

One irritating thing about Windows is its not‐so‐great command line. Hopefully Powershell and Interix will remedy this in the future.


Linux is surely useful, but I?ve always had bad luck running it. First time I tried installing Slackware, it could never load the kernel; my recent try of Ubuntu led to constant freezing when using wireless. However, there are plenty of LiveCDs that work fine, and I would like to get proficient at running Linux systems (perhaps LAMPs?) at some point simply because it?s getting so common nowadays.

The one thing I do dislike about Linux is the GNU philosophy behind it. Adding restrictions to your code that make it only compatible with one license is not making it more ?free,? no matter what Stallman says. I have long preferred BSD‐style licensing for software, which makes things like Mac OS X possible.

Speaking of BSD, I really like OpenBSD. Installed it after having so much trouble with Slackware (and partly because the install files fit on one CD), and got it running with surprisingly little problem. It has been surprisingly stable, and I learn more about it every day. Just don?t expect it to run everything?it?s an esoteric OS among esoteric OSes.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: MissingNO. #1 Master
Date: 2009-02-20 03:50:18
Also need to mention that, as of late, Apple has REALLY gone down the drain in customer support.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: MissingNo
Date: 2009-02-21 22:06:04

Also need to mention that, as of late, Apple has REALLY gone down the drain in customer support.


True that… fuckers couldn't help me out with my iPod.

At least when I called Dell Enterprise for my new (and dead) PowerEdge, I got an American person. I guess that's an advantage for buying 'srys biz' products from Dell.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Zach the Glitch Buster
Date: 2009-02-24 20:48:52

Also need to mention that, as of late, Apple has REALLY gone down the drain in customer support.

Yea, sorry but I must object on that front. [size=1pt]I'm really tempted to to say something like "cut the B.S., but I decided to be more formal for effect.[/size] I've been to the genius bar plenty of times and they've saved my ass. Over the summer, me being a super genius, was trying to install Windows XP on my Mac and I encountered an issue. Long story short, I wiped my hard drive with no way to restore OS X. [size=1]I had a back up of my data don't worry[/size] Windows still wouldn't install, which didn't help. The guys at the Apple store helped my out for a good few hours to get the damn thing going the way I wanted. After that, my computer ran like clockwork, with both OS X and XP. So understand why I think the customer support is great. Although, if you need to call in, that's a waste of time. Those dudes just read off the website. Which is great by the way. So that's my two penny's on the matter.  I'll be back later with a defense for OS X, count on it. 

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Wa
Date: 2009-04-06 19:44:16
I am cursed with Windows XP; I cannot use a computer that runs it for more than a day or two before a crash. Microsoft Word also would take nearly an hour to load. I am currently using Ubuntu, which works fine except it occasionally forgets the wireless network password. I have no opinion on Mac OS.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Axaj
Date: 2009-04-06 19:46:32
Ubuntu FTW!  I like Macs a lot too.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Yeniaul
Date: 2015-12-11 20:12:53
"You know what?"
Apple = "Pirated Red Hat and called it theirs after making it proprietary bulls***\n"
Mac_OS_X = "redHat(illlegalVersion)\n"
updateOSX = "illegal(stolenContent-Like_Bittorrent+Fallout_4())\n"
Linux = "Great for lots of stuff, but it's no Windows XP, am I right? *laugh track*\n"
Ubuntu = "Okay, you want Debian? F*** DEBIAN!\n"
Win7 = "Better than Windows Vista, worse than XP\n"
MS_DOS_6 = "F*CK YEAH! ~4 ms for a format? H*** yeah, bring me those speeds!\n"
Vista = "goF***Yourself(rusty_knife)\n"
Win95 = "HOW COULD YOU ALLOW THE LOGIN TO BE CLOSED? TEST YOUR F***ING PRODUCTS!\n"
Win98 = Win95 + "Plus, it could've been better, but whatever, it's good enough\n"
Win3_1 = "No.\n"
Hillary_Clinton = "YOU'LL GET MY GUNS WHEN THEY'VE BEEN REDUCED TO RUST YOU B****ES!!!\n"
Donald_Trump = Hillary_Clinton
#Obvious political stance is obvious…
print Apple + Mac_OS_X + updateOSX + Linux + Ubuntu + Win7 + MS_DOS_6 + Vista + Win95 + Win98 + Win3_1 + Hillary_Clinton + Donald_Trump #I don't think you need me to tell you what'll come out of a Python Interpreter…

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Zowayix
Date: 2015-12-12 10:25:40

"You know what?"
Apple = "Pirated Red Hat and called it theirs after making it proprietary bulls***\n"
Mac_OS_X = "redHat(illlegalVersion)\n"
updateOSX = "illegal(stolenContent-Like_Bittorrent+Fallout_4())\n"
Linux = "Great for lots of stuff, but it's no Windows XP, am I right? *laugh track*\n"
Ubuntu = "Okay, you want Debian? F*** DEBIAN!\n"
Win7 = "Better than Windows Vista, worse than XP\n"
MS_DOS_6 = "F*CK YEAH! ~4 ms for a format? H*** yeah, bring me those speeds!\n"
Vista = "goF***Yourself(rusty_knife)\n"
Win95 = "HOW COULD YOU ALLOW THE LOGIN TO BE CLOSED? TEST YOUR F***ING PRODUCTS!\n"
Win98 = Win95 + "Plus, it could've been better, but whatever, it's good enough\n"
Win3_1 = "No.\n"
Hillary_Clinton = "YOU'LL GET MY GUNS WHEN THEY'VE BEEN REDUCED TO RUST YOU B****ES!!!\n"
Donald_Trump = Hillary_Clinton
#Obvious political stance is obvious…
print Apple + Mac_OS_X + updateOSX + Linux + Ubuntu + Win7 + MS_DOS_6 + Vista + Win95 + Win98 + Win3_1 + Hillary_Clinton + Donald_Trump #I don't think you need me to tell you what'll come out of a Python Interpreter…

You can say fuck on this forum you know.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Yeniaul
Date: 2015-12-12 13:05:39
Kinda why the asterisks are there…

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: MissingNo
Date: 2015-12-12 18:10:43
Hah. Lets come back around to this, 6+ years after the original post:

Microsoft Windows
Windows 7 has become my favorite of the OSes so far. Windows 8/8.1 have been buggy and garbage from an enterprise standpoint, and Windows 10 is cramming so much shitware out of the box unless you get the super-special long-term servicing edition that its not even worth installing.

Embedded-wise Windows Phone isnt the strongest platform anymore. Its lost its marketshare. Not a lot of good applications. It just seems so lacking in comparison to the old WinMo 6.x era.

Linux
With all the changes to windowing environments Ubuntu really turned to crap. Ill really only go near CentOS or Debian most of the time, and only command-line. Android is getting iffy to an extent when device manufacturers place crapware on the device - I havent seen a usable LG or HTC phone, ever.

Mac
Macs are my go-to machine. Im typing this on my Macbook Pro, though I have nothing but bones to pick about El Capitan, the latest OS X release. With the advent of System Integrity Protection, 10.11 basically locks itself down like an iPhone: no root access, limited /System modification available, and a lot more restrictions as to what you can do to the OS.

The iPhone and iPad though? Ive been nothing but happy with both my iPad and iPhone. Application support is great (I have basically 90% of my hospital IT-related applications available on both, and for everything else Citrix is spot-on).

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Yeniaul
Date: 2015-12-12 19:22:03

Im typing this on my Macbook Pro, though I have nothing but bones to pick about El Capitan, the latest OS X release. With the advent of System Integrity Protection, 10.11 basically locks itself down like an iPhone: no root access, limited /System modification available, and a lot more restrictions as to what you can do to the OS.

Apple at its finest. I'm surprised it took them this long to do this.

Re: The great OS wars

Posted by: Yeniaul
Date: 2015-12-12 19:23:19

You can say f**k on this forum you know.

Oh, sorry, misunderstood. Thought that was a can't. :P