Linux vs Apple vs Windows

[mwfanelli]

Has anyone seen the first two Novell/Linux parodies of those silly Apple vs Windows ads? They are hilarious. Linux ain't there yet for many, but never say never. Number two tries harder...

http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/2007..._launches.html

[Skyman]

i am about to set up an old machine with ubuntu so i will have a mac a pc and a linux machine on the one network....... Just 'cause i can

[mwfanelli]

i am about to set up an old machine with ubuntu so i will have a mac a pc and a linux machine on the one network....... Just 'cause i can

Exactly. I have Ubuntu 6.10 running on an old Toshiba laptop that works only some of the time (flaky hard drive). Linux is now more than good enough for a user who does the basic stuff, email, web, simple documents, playing music, etc. Its still not there with drivers (the manufacturers fault), commercial DVD playing (licensing), or image manipulation beyond simple changes (The Gimp is minimal). But it does extremely well in the server space and has improved its install procedures by magnitudes.

I truly feel that any threat to MS will definately come from Linux, slowly, and starting in Asia, India, etc. Mac will be left in its current state as an also-ran.

[Skyman]

I truly feel that any threat to MS will definately come from Linux, slowly, and starting in Asia, India, etc.

I think the shift will come when applications are delivered online as is already happening. people, particularly business looking at the bottom line will opt for cheaper and more stable options. the advantage of online distributions is that it frees up valuable memory and what would otherwise be a costly and time cosuming process of managing versions, updates and upgrades will largely disappear. As will hopefully the nasties such as macro viruses (or is it virii?)

Mac will be left in its current state as an also-ran.

Blasphemy! I think apple will increase its marketshare on the back of the success of the ipod and other technologies such as the iphone and itv. I guess though it really comes down to $$ and availability of applications. I bought a mac as at the time final cut pro was the final word so to speak in video editing. now i use premier on a pc at work all the time, and I run cs2 very happily on a pc when before some of the applications were definately mac only. I guess the range of available software reflects the market penetration of the various operating systems. I was hoping i could get I tunes for ubuntu as i could then use it as a media server but utilise playlists on other machines (as hard drive space is very limited on my linux box) I haven't had time to play with it much but ubuntu seems to offer everything that most users would need with 2 great caveats it is both legal and free!!

[mwfanelli]

I think apple will increase its marketshare on the back of the success of the ipod and other technologies such as the iphone and itv. I guess though it really comes down to $$ and availability of applications...!

Apple does well with the specialty hardware. That is one reason it recently changed the company name from Apple Computers to just Apple Inc. Sales of Macs are still stagnent at about 2.3% of the market, there has been little or no crossover. On the other hand, iPods and iTunes rule their space, even I have an iPod! I am confident that the overpriced seen-it-before iPhone should do very well.

When it comes to Linux, if several key items were implimented well, I'd have no problems leaving MS behind. IMHO, Ubuntu has changed the face of desktop LInux. I don't hate MS the way some people do, but I look for the cheapest full functionality I can get. Right now, that's MS. Maybe in the future it will be Linux.

[Tel]

Gah, Linux is the best, Macs suck mostly cause of the iPod (Seriously, Why do you buy those gay things? There EXTREMELY overpriced.), Windows sucks cause of the Viruses and bugs, Linux sucks cause of the limited compatibility. But with Linux, Pretty much everything is free. Plus the fact that its open source, which means that if you have the ability, you can REALLY customize or even make your own Operating System.

Enough of me ranting, Those commercials were pretty good, but they weren't exactly funny.

[mwfanelli]

Gah, Linux is the best, Macs suck mostly cause of the iPod (Seriously, Why do you buy those gay things? There EXTREMELY overpriced.), Windows sucks cause of the Viruses and bugs, Linux sucks cause of the limited compatibility. But with Linux, Pretty much everything is free. Plus the fact that its open source, which means that if you have the ability, you can REALLY customize or even make your own Operating System.

Enough of me ranting, Those commercials were pretty good, but they weren't exactly funny.

Eeek (a girlie scream)! Macs and iPods don't go together. Yeah, the big iPods are overpriced. But my little Shuffle does a great job and was in line with the price of similiar players. For a fancier unit, I would look around first. The iTunes store sells the iPods, I have yet to see any online store that is more complete.

Lots of the free stuff you get on Linux also works on Windows. I have Open Office (although MS Office is vastly superior), SciLab, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, TrueCrypt, free Zone Alarm, etc. Come to think of it, the only commercial products I've paid for on my personal Windows laptop is UltraEdit (fantastic for about $30) and MS Office - even that was free because I work for the college and its covered under the site license.

Those little inconsitencies are what holds Linux back from The Show. I want to play a DVD on my laptop without having to hack or steal software. I want to edit photos with a good software package. I want a first class editor that didn't get stuck in the muck of the 1980s. I want device drivers. I tried going Linux-only and lasted about a week at best. But, with just some small changes, that could be very different.

Maybe the new Ubuntu 7.04 now in alpha testing..?

[cyberlord]

I've been running FreeBSD since version 4.1 I believe and I love it. It's had its growing pains but with KDE desktop it's a wonderful product and way more stable than the other 2 systems. I've had one (server mind you) run for over 330 days and that was cut short by a long poweroutage where my UPS ran out of juice. The only reasons I ran Win2K on dual boot was to play games and use Photoshop. These days I don't have time for games and I use GIMP all the time now. The biggest thing I miss with GIMP is batch processing. Someone has to have a script out there to batch process!

[walterick]

I have to admit reading this thread is akin to reading Greek to me

[mwfanelli]

I have to admit reading this thread is akin to reading Greek to me

If you grub it to a a USB flash and use it with a USB-bootable BIOS, it will all turn into English.

[cyberlord]

I didn't know they made USB flashes for cameras.

[mwfanelli]

I didn't know they made USB flashes for cameras.

Hey! A Linux powered camera! We can do spreadsheets while taking photos...

[Frog]

I know I'm old but I just never figured out the popularity of ipods when I've got a radio.

[mwfanelli]

I know I'm old but I just never figured out the popularity of ipods when I've got a radio.

Simple. No mindless commercials, no reception problems, and it always plays the music you like.

[Tel]

Eeek (a girlie scream)! Macs and iPods don't go together. Yeah, the big iPods are overpriced. But my little Shuffle does a great job and was in line with the price of similiar players. For a fancier unit, I would look around first. The iTunes store sells the iPods, I have yet to see any online store that is more complete.

Lots of the free stuff you get on Linux also works on Windows. I have Open Office (although MS Office is vastly superior), SciLab, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, TrueCrypt, free Zone Alarm, etc. Come to think of it, the only commercial products I've paid for on my personal Windows laptop is UltraEdit (fantastic for about $30) and MS Office - even that was free because I work for the college and its covered under the site license.

Those little inconsitencies are what holds Linux back from The Show. I want to play a DVD on my laptop without having to hack or steal software. I want to edit photos with a good software package. I want a first class editor that didn't get stuck in the muck of the 1980s. I want device drivers. I tried going Linux-only and lasted about a week at best. But, with just some small changes, that could be very different.

Maybe the new Ubuntu 7.04 now in alpha testing..?

Honestly, I dual boot. Linux for Internet and stuff, Windows for Games and Photoshop. Some people may think it, but The GIMP is NO Substitute for Photoshop.

But yeah, One of these day's Linux will come out triumphant. People are gonna stop using Windows cause of Viruses, Then Apple will screw up yet again and screw up something, And the only OS left will be Linux (And FreeBSD, umm.. thats the only other one I know).

That'll be the day, eh? But hey, I can still play Unreal Tournament on Linux, right?

[walterick]

Plus, white earphones are better.

[mwfanelli]

But yeah, One of these day's Linux will come out triumphant. People are gonna stop using Windows cause of Viruses...

But if Linux truly does become popular just like Windows, all the script bunnies will migrate to Linux attacks. Don't think like a Macophile: Linux is vunerable too! Nobody really cares about attacking Linux right now because of Microsoft's current massive market dominance.

Hey, isn't Solaris free for personal use now? I thought I read that somewhere.

[Greg McCary]

You can keep them Ipods, but don't touch my satellite radio.

[mwfanelli]

You can keep them Ipods, but don't touch my satellite radio.

My DirectTV satellite TV sends down 68 XM channels. There are about 10 stations I like to listen to. Satellite radio doesn't work well where I live, it is erratic on local roads and would need a roof-mounted antenna for home.

[Skyman]

Plus, white earphones are better.

Come over here and say that! nothing can top my beasts!

http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm_eng.nsf/root/04974#



they are great for blocking out noise they make thing sound "as the mixing engineer wanted" so you are listening to the music as it was meant to sound, not how your amps eq makes it sound. and they are a joy to edit with. I have been through many set of headphones in my time and these are my favourite.

[Tel]

But if Linux truly does become popular just like Windows, all the script bunnies will migrate to Linux attacks. Don't think like a Macophile: Linux is vunerable too! Nobody really cares about attacking Linux right now because of Microsoft's current massive market dominance.

No way man, Linux has like 1000x better security than Windows. Windows has always had a thing for not caring about security.

[mwfanelli]

No way man, Linux has like 1000x better security than Windows. Windows has always had a thing for not caring about security.

I also like to live in the world of fantasy! The tough part is when reality crumbles it, I spent close to 15 years doing development on UNIX boxes, they are not bulletproof by any means. Linux is no different.

[SmartWombat]

Nobody really cares about attacking Linux right now because of Microsoft's current massive market dominance.

But according to the journal I read, LAMP has more market share in web applications than WIndows.
So why aren't there server attacks tergeted at Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP then?

Unless the anti-Microsoft marketing claims are wrong.
Good grief, you can't believe what you see in print

[livin4lax09]

Gah, Linux is the best, Macs suck mostly cause of the iPod (Seriously, Why do you buy those gay things? There EXTREMELY overpriced.), Windows sucks cause of the Viruses and bugs, Linux sucks cause of the limited compatibility. But with Linux, Pretty much everything is free. Plus the fact that its open source, which means that if you have the ability, you can REALLY customize or even make your own Operating System.

Enough of me ranting, Those commercials were pretty good, but they weren't exactly funny.

macs suck because of the ipod? Sorry tel, but this is just a stupid argument. first off, ipods dont have anything to do with macs other than the fact you load music onto it off a mac. A macintosh is a computer distributed by apple, and an ipod is an mp3 playing distributed by apple. They are completely unrelated products. I personally don't think ipods are overpriced, because for the size, features, and sound quality, I'm willing to pay that much. Just because company a decides to release a 30gb mp3 player doesnt mean its the same as a 30gb ipod, just a lot cheaper. My friend used to tell me how much better his mp3 player was than mine, but his was about the size of a walkman. "but it cost 100 dollars less."

sorry, computers. I get off topic.

I'm a mac guy. I hated them before the released OS X, I'll admit it. But no longer. I will never buy a PC. I don't even have windows on my computer right now even though it could support it.

I'll just say this... please please please do not argue that "the only reason macs dont get viruses is because why would anyone bother to write a virus for a computer that 3% of the population owns?" Because it's not an argument that furthers the PC's side of the debate. Yes, macs do have a small percentage of the market. OK, so not as many people write viruses for them. But does that make them worse by any means? NO. I don't care why I don't get as many viruses, I just know the fact that I don't get them is pretty damn good for me.

[masdog]

Blasphemy! I think apple will increase its marketshare on the back of the success of the ipod and other technologies such as the iphone and itv.

The iPhone is gonna flop. Its not a good phone, a good PDA, or even a decent hybrid device like the Treo or Slver. It really doesn't have a market.

The iTV is an interesting concept to build off of the iTunes store (especially since you can't burn your TV shows and movies to video discs...that I'm aware of), but it doesn't have support for HD content. Hopefully Apple will fix this in the next version.