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If you don't have any Windows-only applications keeping your younger-than-double-digit children on Windows, well then now is your chance to put them on anything

If you don't have any Windows-only applications keeping your younger-than-double-digit children on Windows, well then now is your chance to put them on anything-other-than-Windows. My own children are still using computers with Windows 7. They play Spore (Windows only), Sims 3 (Windows only) Minecraft (Java, so playable anywhere), Osu! (no idea, really), and a couple of other games. I have no intention of upgrading Windows on their computers past 7. Take a look at your options, you might be surprised how easily Windows is replaced with anything else.

Maarten88 11y ago
My son, who mostly plays Minecraft, does not understand why many of his friends use Apple PCs. The "render distance" and framerate in Minecraft on our home PC (running Windows 8.1) is twice that of his friends, and our PC cost half what a similar Apple costs. As a parent, I'm also not sure if an equivalent of Family Safety exists on other platforms. Windows sends me weekly overviews of our kids PC use and blocks inappropriate content. Also, our kids log into their own profiles, I don't give them Administrator level access, they have to aks me if they want to install something.
- Domenic_S 11y ago
  On my desk now I have two MBPs and one windows PC. The macs are for work, the PC is for games (and occasional windows testing). I use the same kb/mouse/monitor for all 3. After being out of the PC scene for 10+ years -- and as a rabid apple fan -- let me say this: PC gaming is AWESOME. Games I'd only played on Mac before come to new life on a proper gaming PC. That said I would probably go into a different line of work if I had to use Windows as my primary dev box.
- arm 11y ago
  This performance disparity between OS X and Windows for gaming may finally be diminished now that Apple’s bringing Metal from iOS to OS X (far faster than using OpenGL): http://www.imore.com/metal-os-x-so-huge-i-no-longer-need-mac-pro http://www.imore.com/metal-os-x-so-huge-i-no-longer-need-mac...
- dublinben 11y ago
  Your only two choices are not an overpriced Mac and a cheap PC. You can build/buy a reasonably priced PC and install a GNU/Linux distribution on it. As a Java application, Minecraft runs perfectly fine on any operating system. As for your parental controls, if you wish to apply them you can do the exact same thing on any GNU/Linux platform.
v0x 11y ago
I still think Win2k was a great operating system and I wish I could go back to it, but you do eventually have to upgrade. I eventually had to upgrade Win2k to Win7 because of the many performance benefits and the lack of support for the OS. Even though I personally hate literally almost every new feature of Windows 10 and the design of the entire OS, I'm still running it, simply because I get much better performance out of it than I do on Win7 - and I can generally customize my UX.
userbinator 11y ago
Have you looked at Linux with WINE? That could be a good transition from Windows into, eventually, pure Linux.
ricree 11y ago
I have no idea about the Sims, but I've run Spore under Wine without noticable issue.
touristtam 11y ago
MSFT has done this by buying itself into the graphic API market long ago. Since then the last two main graphic hardware vendor have been poorly receptive to develop drivers for any other platform. Hopefully, Valve OS's initiative might bend this and allow the Linux world to be at least on par with MSFT when it comes to graphic drivers. Considering that from the three main console out there, both the Playstation and the Nintendo are using a flavor or another of OpenGL, there is some hope for the future of alternative to MSFT outside the office and MSFT centric software development.
- ionised 11y ago
  I'm really hoping STeam OS becomes a viable desktop gaming OS (play most if not all PC games) at some point. I would drop Windows in a heartbeat if that happened. There is no other reason keeping me using it other than games.
TheGrimDerp1 11y ago
Linux Mint has many usability features similar to Win 7, is free/free, and I've not had any issues with Win games ( wine / etc ) - plus they can learn command line & packages! worth the time it takes to check it out, imo...

Maarten88 11y ago

My son, who mostly plays Minecraft, does not understand why many of his friends use Apple PCs. The "render distance" and framerate in Minecraft on our home PC (running Windows 8.1) is twice that of his friends, and our PC cost half what a similar Apple costs. As a parent, I'm also not sure if an equivalent of Family Safety exists on other platforms. Windows sends me weekly overviews of our kids PC use and blocks inappropriate content. Also, our kids log into their own profiles, I don't give them Administrator level access, they have to aks me if they want to install something.

Domenic_S 11y ago
On my desk now I have two MBPs and one windows PC. The macs are for work, the PC is for games (and occasional windows testing). I use the same kb/mouse/monitor for all 3. After being out of the PC scene for 10+ years -- and as a rabid apple fan -- let me say this: PC gaming is AWESOME. Games I'd only played on Mac before come to new life on a proper gaming PC. That said I would probably go into a different line of work if I had to use Windows as my primary dev box.
arm 11y ago
This performance disparity between OS X and Windows for gaming may finally be diminished now that Apple’s bringing Metal from iOS to OS X (far faster than using OpenGL): http://www.imore.com/metal-os-x-so-huge-i-no-longer-need-mac-pro http://www.imore.com/metal-os-x-so-huge-i-no-longer-need-mac...
dublinben 11y ago
Your only two choices are not an overpriced Mac and a cheap PC. You can build/buy a reasonably priced PC and install a GNU/Linux distribution on it. As a Java application, Minecraft runs perfectly fine on any operating system. As for your parental controls, if you wish to apply them you can do the exact same thing on any GNU/Linux platform.

v0x 11y ago

I still think Win2k was a great operating system and I wish I could go back to it, but you do eventually have to upgrade. I eventually had to upgrade Win2k to Win7 because of the many performance benefits and the lack of support for the OS. Even though I personally hate literally almost every new feature of Windows 10 and the design of the entire OS, I'm still running it, simply because I get much better performance out of it than I do on Win7 - and I can generally customize my UX.

userbinator 11y ago

Have you looked at Linux with WINE? That could be a good transition from Windows into, eventually, pure Linux.

ricree 11y ago

I have no idea about the Sims, but I've run Spore under Wine without noticable issue.

touristtam 11y ago

MSFT has done this by buying itself into the graphic API market long ago. Since then the last two main graphic hardware vendor have been poorly receptive to develop drivers for any other platform. Hopefully, Valve OS's initiative might bend this and allow the Linux world to be at least on par with MSFT when it comes to graphic drivers. Considering that from the three main console out there, both the Playstation and the Nintendo are using a flavor or another of OpenGL, there is some hope for the future of alternative to MSFT outside the office and MSFT centric software development.

ionised 11y ago
I'm really hoping STeam OS becomes a viable desktop gaming OS (play most if not all PC games) at some point. I would drop Windows in a heartbeat if that happened. There is no other reason keeping me using it other than games.

TheGrimDerp1 11y ago

Linux Mint has many usability features similar to Win 7, is free/free, and I've not had any issues with Win games ( wine / etc ) - plus they can learn command line & packages! worth the time it takes to check it out, imo...