Computer Operating Systems.

[pk.sax]

Pretty much it hey.

All these die hard freeloaders who come to bag everything as a rule just show how much they get out of the house, or armchair.

 

[schrodinger]

+1

There is no "best" platform, because the question is subjective. Context matters, and what you're used to matters even more. Even if I agreed that Microsoft was evil and open-source was superior, I'd still use MS products on PCs, for two reasons.

First, I've invested literally thousands of hours over 20+ years mastering Office applications, to the point that Excel is practically an extension of my body. Even moving to Mac creates enough changes in the way one interacts with these programs to slow me down enormously. I could re-learn, but why waste the time (=money)? Besides, I did try Open Office and another similar product whose name I forget, and both were unstable and weak compared to MS Office, at least on my PC at the time.

The same is true for colleagues of mine who use Macs -- it's what they're used to, so it IS better, for them. Likewise Linux users, though in my field they're pretty thin on the ground these days.

Second, my work computers will always be either PC or Mac because I have no choice in the matter. The uni won't purchase, service or even allow network connection to anything else. So why would I deal with the hassle of having a different OS on my personal/home computer than on my office computer? Of course I could deal with it and learn it and so forth... but why bother?

I'm incredibly efficient and productive on PC/MS. Which is why I use a computer in the first place.

 

[Airgead]

I stopped using Linux at home when I got into photography, I need Photoshop. GIMP doesn't cut it. RAW processing is also very poorly supported in Linux.

Au contraire blackadder... Linux users have the very good Corel Aftershot pro (used to be Bibble until Corel bought it a few years ago). Its a full on pro grade raw photo workflow tool. I use it for all my raw processing and it compares very favorably with the equivalents from Adobe and the like. And its a fraction of the price (yes... you do have to pay for it... not all linux users are complete freeloaders). I used to run my photigraphy business with it. Fantastic product.

And gimp has come a long way in the last few years.

 

[JaseH]

..and there in lie’s the problem. MS has been so effective at monopolising the market from the early days that they have been adopted as the standard desktop operating system, even though technically "under the hood" compared to Unix/Linux POSIX based systems it's an inferior design.

POSIX systems were designed from the beginning to be secure in multi user network environments way before the internet and LAN's were common place, where as Windows took the lead with desktop UI and marketing which won over the general public users. Linux has been catching up lately as far as UI goes but Windows has always struggled to fix its fundamental flaws with network security and its horrible registry system(think viruses/malware and how you need to format and re-install Windows every 12mths or so!). The biggest issue I feel Linux has currently is lack of commercial 3rd party software support as is mentioned.

I personally use Linux almost exclusively for work, I have an Ubuntu laptop and all our servers are Centos based, I wouldn't have it any other way, it makes my life so much easier. But unfortunately I find I still need to have a windows VM to support certain applications that wont run well on Linux. I also support 30 odd windows network clients because that is what our non IT personnel are comfortable with and certain 3rd party applications we use insist on it, even though they are a nightmare to support.

 

[BadSeed]

And gimp has come a long way in the last few years.

It still doesn't come close to Photoshop though, I would love it if it did.

Another reason I switched was multi-monitor support and monitor calibration.

I have 2 Nvidia cards in my desktop PC and I have 3 monitors. It took me over 3 hours to get them working in linux which included adding non-free repositories, a Kernel recompile and more reboots than a Windows build.
I was unable to get my Spyder 3 to be recognised at all, I could see it as a USB device but the calibration software couldn't. I also had webcam driver problems and my family uses Skype a lot.
I did like Aftershock though and it is every bit as good as lightroom.

I would love to use Linux at home, but...

At work I need to support a largely Windows based environment and I have to use MMC and some other Windows only tools, which is a shame because Linux would be my OS of choice.

Libre office is another great open source application I run it on my Windows machines.

 

[Airgead]

My 3 monitors worked out of the box with ubuntu... and my monitor calibrator (usb type... not spyder though... can't remember the name) works out of the box as well.

Come to the dark side....

 

[fraser_john]

Industrial strength Z/Os .... hehehe....

Unfortunately I use Win/Linux(Ubuntu)/Mac in my line of work. All have advantages over each other. At home Ubuntu with a Windows 7 VM for those oddities (like Quickbooks) that won't run on Ubuntu.

 

[mr_wibble]

I use CP/M 80 on my 32k Microbee.

All you late-model computer users, with your hard disk things, and those mouses. They're just new-fangled techno-jism, and have no place in a modern office.

I can fit my word processor, and document files on a single convenient floppy disk.
I've never been late on a presentation because I spent hours undecided on which printer font has the nicest kerning. Three choices is enough: Plain; Bold; Italic.

Although there was that time the dot-matrix wore through the ribbon, and caused the paper-feed rollers to jam.

 

[Bribie G]

They ruined Wolfenstein 3d when they introduced mouse support.

Hey, here's a question. How come if I have six movies on my hard drive, say totalling 5 GB and want to transfer them to my 1 TB USB hard drive.

If I select and paste them over one at a time it's done in about five minutes.

If I select them all and paste them it takes an hour. :huh:

 

[niftinev]

They ruined Wolfenstein 3d when they introduced mouse support.

Hey, here's a question. How come if I have six movies on my hard drive, say totalling 5 GB and want to transfer them to my 1 TB USB hard drive.

If I select and paste them over one at a time it's done in about five minutes.

If I select them all and paste them it takes an hour. :huh:

I find it's the other way round

 

[idzy]

Windows 7 will be the smoothiest transition for you.

 

[Camo6]

So, the time has come for me to upgrade windoze but not sure whether my old pc will handle 8.1 so found a good deal on windoze 7 pro from this site for $55 (US/AU??) for an ISO file download. Anyone see any reason to not go with this download apart from the usual go Mac/Ubuntu responses. Can't find a copy in stores and elsewhere online is still over a hundred bucks.
Appreciate any advice before I hit the button.

 

[pcmfisher]

For $55 it may or may not work at all or for long.

 

[Camo6]

Thanks pcmfischer. A bit of deeper delving shows some pretty damning reviews. Who'd think the internet was full of scammers?

 

[Exile]

So, the time has come for me to upgrade windoze but not sure whether my old pc will handle 8.1 so found a good deal on windoze 7 pro from this site for $55 (US/AU??) for an ISO file download. Anyone see any reason to not go with this download apart from the usual go Mac/Ubuntu responses. Can't find a copy in stores and elsewhere online is still over a hundred bucks.
Appreciate any advice before I hit the button.

Try the windows 10 preview before spending any money, Use and abuse it till they release the final?
Once released Windows 10 Will Be Free for Personal Users

 

[panzerd18]

I had Win7, upgraded to Win8, threw Win8 in the bin and went back to Win7.

I'm sorry but Win8 is just infuriating sometimes. Win8 did have a few good features but on the whole I really disliked it for its ease of use and stupid apps integration, which would be fine for a phone, but not a desktop PC.

 

[newguy]

Bought my current laptop with win 8 installed. Bought a win 7 disk and....thus began 48 hours of hell. Win 8 started using UEFI which is a masochistic bastard. Took forever to first figure out why win 7 wouldn't install, and then second stumble upon the proper things in BIOS to turn off in order to properly disable UEFI.

With UEFI what essentially happens is that the serial number of the OS is burned into your motherboard. Any attempt to install something with a different serial number (even another copy of win 8) will result in your computer giving you the double tallboy salute.