The Holy war. Mac vs Windows :p

Village Idiot · Jul 6, 2008

Corry said:
Hey, I have an idea . . . how about we DON'T do these pathetic "mac vs pc", "nikon vs canon", "film vs. digital", etc, etc, etc, threads.

They get totally ridiculous, when mostly all it boils down to is personal preference. You aren't going to sway someone to your side.

You would think that the OP, being around for just a little while, would understand this. Apparently they like starting arguements.

Rhys · Jul 6, 2008

The problem I have with Linux is that there's not much in the way of software available and installing "tarballs" is nightmarish.

clarinetJWD · Jul 6, 2008

Senor Hound said:
Linux > all IMO

Its stable, cheap and easy to use (and if you don't think its easy, just get another GUI that is!)

The only issue I ever have with Linux comes from incompatibility issues. But there are ways around this.

If my computer would let me, I would partition my HD and run both Linux and Vista. But my computer is horribly slow, so I only run XP. But on my new computer... ohhh baby.

My question is even though all these threads are just argument sessions, why Linux never gets mentioned. Its always Mac vs. MS, but there is another option!

Linux does have it's good points, but it also has some serious drawbacks on the usability front. If you need to install something, and there's not package for it, you better have some patience. On this laptop (Dual boot Ubuntu 8.04 and Vista), it took me nearly 2 hours to get the wireless card up and running, and I (and a friend who knows Linux pretty damn well) spent hours trying to install the jgrasp, and never did get it working... same goes for connecting to the free wifi at Johns Hopkins...

It's very stable, and very fast...until you need it to do something new. That being said, it is my primary OS for the laptop, because all I use it for is internet, 95% of the time, and it is the best for that.

Hawaii Five-O · Jul 6, 2008

Mac and PC are both good machines. PCs just have a lot more hardware configurations so you can't really accurately say mac is better than PC.

Rhys · Jul 6, 2008

C677T said:
Mac and PC are both good machines. PCs just have a lot more hardware configurations so you can't really accurately say mac is better than PC.

My experience is that the Mac is actually better than the PC. Conversion was hard at first but now I can do everything with the Mac that I could with the PC but without the irritations.

Senor Hound · Jul 6, 2008

Corry said:
Isn't Linux an operating system?

The thread is about actual computers, not thier OS's. So, that would be why it isn't an option.

I thought since the original post said "Mac vs. Windows" that it was about software. Sorry.

And to the people that replied to me: IMO Linux's downfalls come from it not being based around one company, and being open source. But that's also what makes it great, you know? So the dual boot is really the way to go. I've never had incompatibility issues. As a matter of fact, my wireless card worked without ANY sort of driver (well, the driver was already installed). Another downfall is that there are so many versions you don't know what to get (KDE, gnome, Xfce). Its very confusing (I know I don't know the differences between the three versions I mentioned), but its options are what makes it great. Plus, it was invented by a Finn, so its automatically better than anything else.

I put xubuntu on my laptop cause it takes the least amount of memory, and I only have 256 meg. It really didn't have ANY features whatsoever, but (duh) that's kind of its whole point. I'd love to run a faster computer where I could run a linux version with some more bells and whistles. Put OpenOffice, GIMP, and other fun stuff on there, and I'd be in business!!!

I think we should all be grateful there's an option. So let's all hold hands, gather around the campfire, and sing, "Koombayah. "

Corry · Jul 7, 2008

Oh, I guess it is. I had it in my head that it said "mac vs pc"

Senor Hound · Jul 7, 2008

Corry said:
Oh, I guess it is. I had it in my head that it said "mac vs pc"

[sarcasm]

How dare you! With your empty schedule, I'm sure all you have time to do is read this one thread over and over!

[/sarcasm]

It's all good. I just get confused at the "a vs. b" arguments, cause in almost all of them, there is a "c." Whether it be Chrysler with cars, Linux with computers, Sony with cameras (along with MANY others), etc., there's always an option left out. I think its called a false dilemma when people do this, but I could easily be wrong.

monkeykoder · Jul 7, 2008

I love Linux because I get to play around until things work just the way I want them to. Also I can make it into a standalone web server for free without much effort (unless I really want it secure then there is a little bit of work to it (same as in windows)). I think it is more of a to each the one that does what he wants it to do kind of thing. I run windows when I want certain software to run that is a pain to get working in Linux and I run Linux when I want to have something I set up to work exactly how I wanted.

lostprophet · Jul 7, 2008

[video=youtube;0-22EpQOm8c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-22EpQOm8c"]CLICK[/video]

Village Idiot · Jul 7, 2008

Broccoli vs. Cheese.

lockwood81 · Jul 7, 2008

Sheesh...another one of these...

monkeykoder · Jul 7, 2008

I have exactly one reason I don't use a Mac... No one has ever given me one for free... Free PCs are plentiful free macs not so much.

Rhys · Jul 7, 2008

monkeykoder said:
I have exactly one reason I don't use a Mac... No one has ever given me one for free... Free PCs are plentiful free macs not so much.

I went Mac. I'm waiting to see what the first problem will be. For the moment there seems to be no problem whatsoever. I tried Linux and while it works very well as a file server I'm not so keen on it as a print server nor as an internet gateway. It is, however, a decent webserver if you have the chance to have your own IP address.

Windows I've had and loathed for years. I started with Windows 1 when it first came out and have used all versions except CE, Vista and 2000. NT4 was the best they made but having to redo the patches was annoying. 95/98/ME were surely some kind of sick joke - nobody could seriously produce an operating system as awful as those! Windows 3.1 was better than they were. XP was reasonably decent but suffered from flaws introduced when they decided to make everything backward compatible. I almost went Mac when I built my first XP box. I didn't and I regretted it very quickly but it was too late then. OSX didn't run on intel. I tried Linux but while it had the look and feel of Windows, it just didn't do anything for me. It's an OS designed for experimentation rather than anything else. It's also pretty good as a server. It's not a desktop system though.

As I said, I'm running Mac and Windows side-by-side at the moment. I find I use my Mac far more than Windows and am so pleased with my Mac that I might get a Mac desktop next year.