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I've been using Windows pretty much since version 3.1 (though will some time on OS/2 as well) as my primary OS. I have, of course, used Linux, though mostly for
by Osiris 15y ago
I've been using Windows pretty much since version 3.1 (though will some time on OS/2 as well) as my primary OS. I have, of course, used Linux, though mostly for servers and not a full-time primary OS. I also have a Chromebook running Chrome OS. Recently, I switched jobs and my team uses Macs so over the last few months my primary work OS is now Mac OS X, while I still use Windows at home.
One thing I have discovered in this transition is that I find the fanboism illogical and pretty much pointless. I've found that I can, for the most part, do about the same sorts of things in one OS as another, though the process is different. Yes, there are some applications available on one but not the other, but I have not found anything that forces me to believe that one OS is superior in all ways to another.
I can appreciate the differences and pros and cons to various operating systems, but I honestly get annoyed by people that attack or bash another OS with broad statements like "Well what do you expect from Microsoft?" or "Well I can do that on Mac why can't I do it on Windows?" Worse, it's never appropriate to associate an OS choice with a personal character flaw of an individual as often happens in flame wars. Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux varieties are all tools and should just be seen as such.
- teebot 15y agototally agree with this. The OS is becoming more and more irrelevant.
- Joeboy 15y agoI'm not sure that's actually the case, but if it were then deliberately using one that was locked down / charged for / oligopolistic would be a bad choice, not a neutral one.
- pjmlp 15y agoCould not agree more.
- slowpoke 15y agoI would just like to add that there is a valid reason why Linux or the *BSDs are superior to Windows or OS X - they are Free. As in Speech. And I'm sad this doesn't even warrant a mention.
- csomar 15y agoHow much does the price tag matters when you are a developer or professional that gets paid $150/hour?
- pavanky 15y agoFree as in freedom. Not free pizza. If you are getting $150 an hour, there are better things to do with the money than flaunt it in public.
- orta 15y agoYou're thinking free as in beer. Free as in speech means open source. As a developer you gain more from that as you can tweak/maintain your own software if needs be.
- mahmud 15y agoIn the last 5 years I have spent more on Free Software donations than I have in licensing crippleware.
- csomar 15y agoWow. I'm getting quite of a down votes. I'm not opposed to Open Source software, actually I'm contributing to one of them. What I meant is that when the price tag is so small comparing to your earnings (since you are going to use the software for work), why would you make it a decision factor when picking an OS?
- dchest 15y agoYou are again confusing free software, open source software, and gratis software. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.h...
- Osiris 15y agoI agree with you. That's certainly a 'pro' on the side of Linux. I stated that every OS has it's pros and cons, but my goal wasn't to list what those are. To say unilaterally that it's better for all people at all times in all use cases is, at the very least, an overstatement. While being free is a top concern for you and many others, for some (perhaps many) usability might be their top concern and they may be willing to sacrifice freedom for usability, and that's a choice we should all be free to make.
- efdee 15y agoCan I somehow upvote you twice?
- eostyx 15y agoYou'll never eliminate flame wars or any of it's derivatives. You simply can't for the sole reason that the people that participate in those or are offended enough to start those silly subjective "debates", are probably suffering from lack of identity. Therefore they lash out at anyone that dislikes or doesn't share the exact same preferences, it makes them feel personally responsible to "defend" their choices in life. Flamer wars are inevitable, the internet was made for venting and complaining that people are complaining is a big waste of your valuable time. Everybody gets one.
- ramblerman 15y agoI disagree. You are entirely correct that fanboism is detrimental to any healthy discussion. But sweeping any discussion under the rug as fanboism isn't much better. I use all three operating systems, and one major argument for me when doing development is the terminal. I know there are emulators on windows, but I have had moderate success with them. Ubuntu and osx give me much more power in that area.
- blhack 15y agoCan you elaborate on that? I have never ever noticed a difference between putty and iTerm.
- ramblerman 15y agoputty is great. But I was talking about terminal into your own system, as an interface to your local files
- Luyt 15y agoOne thing that bugs me about putty is its cramped GUI, which isn't even resizeable. (The terminal screen is, but not the windows in which you configure the connection parameters).
- doktrin 15y agoCheck out Xshell 4. It's a perfectly adequate PuTTY alternative with tabbing and fully re-sizeable windows.
- blhack 15y agoAh, gotcha. Yes, this is a huge gripe of mine as well. I don't want to have to launch RDC just so that I can then launch a cmd.exe instance and pscp something to a remote machine.
- groovy2shoes 15y agoAt work where I'm forced to use Windows, I have Cygwin installed. It's great to pop open a terminal and be able to pipe things around as you would on Linux. It makes Windows a little bit more comfortable, although Cygwin still feels like a second-class citizen (especially when it comes to the file system).
- abraham 15y agoIn my experience I've found OSX somewhat better suited for development and Windows somewhat better suited for gaming but otherwise the main differentiator is hardware polish. The unibody Macbook Pros/Airs is just levels above anything I've experienced in the Windows world.
- tonyedgecombe 15y agoI've just switched back to Windows and its the hardware I miss more than the software. I bought a fairly expensive Dell but it isn't a patch on the old Macbook Pro.
- steverb 15y agoAgreed on the hardware. This is why I bought a MacBook and installed Windows on it. I still hate the damned keyboard, but I hate all non Model M keyboards, so I've learned to live with it.
- abraham 15y agoIt took some adjusting but now I prefer the feel of a MBA keyboard.
- antihero 15y agoI've honestly found developing on Windows a much bigger pain in the arse until you spend a lot of time setting it up. It's not that you can't do things on Windows - anyone with skill can do anything on anything, however it just makes it significantly less easy, it just feels like an OS set up for consumption as opposed to creation.
- brownbat 15y ago> Linux support is "illogical and pretty much pointless." Excellent troll.