OS
 

I have a VAIO FW series and I have tried three types of OS and they all worked. I was wondering which OS you guys like the most.

Re: OS
 

Which Version of Windows, 7? Which Version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard? Or are we presuming the latest and greatest?

-RC

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latest and greatest

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(This thread opens up a can of worms, just to warn you)



My personal favorite is linux. I use my computer for it's power, and don't particularly care for user-frendlyness.

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I second Bob's comment about opening a can of worms.

Because you said you are using the 'latest and greatest', I suggest using Windows 7 if you want a very user-friendly environment, and Linux if you want a very finite level of control over your computer, and its applications.

I've not used a Mac for more than 20 minutes in my life, but I can tell you that I'd prefer Windows and Linux over Mac by far. :P

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XP

"windows" and "latest and greatest" usually don't go together very well

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I prefer Mac OSX but I am looking at installing both Linux and Windows on virtual machines. First I need a bigger hard drive and more RAM.

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Running Mac OS on a non Apple machine violates the Mac OS EULA and is thus illegal.

If I have a preference, I always go Mac OS, but I don't care that much.

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I couldn't vote, since neither CP/M nor DOS were given as options. :mad:

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LOL!!! Me either... CP/M and DOS are always good enough. Who needs the "bloat"ware of Windows!

Given the choices, I prefer LINUX over Windows...

Given the reality of the world, you're kind of "stuck" with Windows.

Speaking of Windows, I just installed Windows 7 64bit on a machine.
It's even MORE bloated.

Whatever happen to simple elegance?

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HAHA funny story about OS's.

I got my Compaq laptop back in September and had little to no issues with vista despite rumors that it was a pain. Around Thanksgiving an error message appeared on my screen when it started up saying that a startup file had been erased and then it would shut down. So I used my grandfathers recovery disc to restore vista but a few days later it went down again. I then preceded to order Windows 7 as they were offering it free to those whom purchased vista within a certain time. During that time I was able to get another recovery disc to restore it again but didn't use it for a week so that it stayed intact until 7 arrived. Got home two nights ago to find it sitting on my porch and happily spent 2 hours installing it on my computer with no problem. Wake up the next morning and used it several times during the day and soon fell in love with it as it ran faster than Vista. Start it up later in the afternoon and it goes into an endless cycle of entering into startup repair, searches for problems, finds none, and then does it again. Get on the phone with HP and he had me run some tests in the BIO and deducts that my harddrive or motherboard are fried. Now I have to send it out for repair, and just days before I go on vacation and build season start. Just my luck!

But I really like Windows7 :) But I might go to a mac down the road as my cousin has had his for several years with no problems and it runs so much faster than my computer.

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I'd have to ask anyone who doesn't have more than 20 minutes of experience with, well, anything to refrain from comparing it to products they have extensive experience with. You simply cannot adapt to a new operating system, or much of anything for that matter, in only 20 minutes, making any opinions created during that experience essentially invalid.

Re: OS
 

It's an opinion, how can it not be valid? Because it differs from your opinion? :)

I've used Mac OS for quite a bit more than 20 minutes, although in fairness I have to admit that it was Mac OS 1 thru 7 so it's not very fair to compare it to modern Windows computers.

I never did like CP/M, but I have a pretty good feel for MS-DOS.

Every now and then I drag an old Kaypro luggable out of the basement and play with CP/M, just to remind myself how bad it is

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Ubuntu Linux > Windows 7 > Mac OS X.6 > Vista > XP

I'm currently running Ubuntu 9.10 on my laptop and desktop (desktop is virtualizing Win7).

Screenshots :D
http://tinypic.com/r/2ak0i9z/6
http://i49.tinypic.com/dq16io.jpg

Linux allows me to have a lot of flexibility over my system and frankly it's a saviour for programmers, built in Python/PHP and a majority of the GNU Compiler Collection. Ubuntu's gedit is a great programming editor IMO and it uses only a few MB of RAM on my system. Not to mention it's external tools plugin is awesome.

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I always had a preference for Unisys 1100 series Exec 8. Mainly because where I worked, I had the source code and could modify it as needed.

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It got to be too much work, cheaper to just throw hardware at it. But, some of it still lives at Apple.
Good story, hope it gets fixed fast.
If you think a mac runs fast, try running DOS on a modern computer. That was when elegance wasn't an option - if you couldn't make it run in <640k RAM, it didn't run - and people still had to get things done as fast as possible, but with a 5 MHz clock speed.

For certain (non-commercial) programs, I still run DOS, because it's easier to write in and executes very fast on a 100 MHz Pentium. Same calculations in XP take longer.

Of course, my daily PC runs XP. Another prisoner of Windows. It could be worse (CP/M for instance):rolleyes:

Re: OS
 

No, because it's an uneducated opinion. I won't voice claims about Linux (which I have used for about an hour or two), and I would certainly hope that people who have attempted to learn another OS would do the same.
A rational person wouldn't claim that a particular brand automobile is inferior to another if all they've done is test drive both. They wouldn't gain any insight into the reliability, durability, or performance of the car in various conditions.
While a first impression is a valid aspect of an educated opinion, it simply isn't sufficient to create one on it's own in the case of operating systems.

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Ok.....

I don't want to spend the money it would cost to acquire a "valid" opinion of the current Mac OS.

How Fanboys View Other Operating Systems
 

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I grew up on Apple II through Mac OS8 through elementary school. After that, it was Windows all the way.
I made it a whole two weeks of no Windows by using Ubuntu, but that was as long as I could stand it. Just took too much time to research and read how to get everything working like I wanted too. Too many things I can do with a mouse in Windows, that I had to do with a terminal window in Ubuntu. For a server, Linux is great. But for a desktop, I think it'll be quite a long time before I give it another try. Just too many things I do work only on (or better on) Windows. Every now and then when I'm feeling nostalgic, I do enjoy firing up the 8MHz Mac Classic with System 7.5 though.

Re: OS
 

It's hard to form an opinion about something after only twenty minutes or less. I bet if you put a seasoned driver of automatic cars into a car with a manual, and told them to drive across town, they'd probably have an unfairly negative opinion of manual transmissions after only twenty minutes due to stalling at every red light and gear shift on hills.

After a day or two of driving gets them over the initial learning curve, their opinion will be much more realistic.

Try out Windows 7 (whether it's a friend's computer or one of the computers at Best Buy or similar stores). Download Ububtu (it's free). Try out Mac OS X (at Best Buy or the Apple Store. The Apple Store will let you use the computers there as long as you want). Use all three long enough to get over the intial learning curve, and then you'll have an accurate opinion of what works best for you (it might be more than one OS).

Gigabytes are cheap, so dual (triple?) booting is really easy nowadays. Computers are even getting fast enough to run one operating system in a virtual machine inside another operating system without any noticeable lag. I personally dual boot Windows 7 and Mac OS X, use them both daily, and wouldn't give up either.

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Good point about multi boot Art....I have Windows 7 RC and Ubuntu 9.10 on my computer, but I still use XP all the time, and hardly ever use the others. I find them to be kind of lame, and they don't offer anything that I can't do with XP.

I can't put OSX on my machine because Apple doesn't want me as a customer. Says so right in their EULA.

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I voted for Mac, I use linux, and windows 7 is impressive. :cool:

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I know that my opinion on OS X is invalid; I felt as though my opinion was requested on all three OSes, so I put down what I felt about all three. I prefaced my opinion of OS X with the time I spent operating them in order to show that I am not, by any means, a reliable source on an "OS X vs -" debate, and that my opinion should not be counted, if the final decision is between a Mac and Linux/Windows.

I am sorry for any misunderstandings. :)

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I wish there was an option for multiple in this poll. I use both windows, and os x in equal amounts. They both have their pros, and their cons which makes it easy to want to switch between the two.

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I like Mac OS 10.4.1
until about a month ago, I was running Mac OS 9.2
My internet browser was "Wamcom" which was a custom build of Mozilla 2 or something like that...I had ZERO javascript support, and it was slow as a snail...Not to mention it only had a 6GB hard drive.

Now I have Safari 4 with my OS 10.4
I am still running it on my G4 quicksilver, so not much about the speed has changed.
But overall It works much better, and I upgraded to 120GB of space!
The only downside is: I still only have 512 MB of ram :mad:

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I dual-boot XP and Ubuntu... Ubuntu works well for general stuff, and I use XP for CAD and gaming.

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Dude! use Ubuntu! it works with netbeans programming OOTB! anything you need is just an apt-get away!

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i <3 windows vista basic.

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I am currently using Win 7 pro 32 bit on my desktop/laptop and Win 7 pro 64 bit on the mobile laptop and only one problem so far and that is with one radio programming software from Butel.nl (the one for the 396/996XT series), it doesn't run properly on 64 bit and fails.

So far I have found win 7 to be as problem free as XP from back when.

Ideally learning all OS's and being fluent in them is a good idea, why not? you never know when you might need that knowledge let's say at work.

I'd like to learn Linux before Mac.

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Fortunately linux is free, and you can use it on your non-Apple hardware, legally :)

Buy another hard drive to put in your computer to experiment with linux. Or run if from the CD, to get the feel of it.

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Good idea, I really need to get back into doing more "nerd things"

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I use Linux exclusively. For practical and moral reasons, I don't regularly use Mac or Windows. In fact, I carry a Linux LiveCD with my at all times just in case, and I always use it on school computer (as opposed to Windows).

I have a (100% legally licensed) Mac and I used to have Windows XP MC and then later Windows 7 RC on my laptop. Windows is too screwy but with a "friendly" user interface with all the shiny stuff. Obviously Microsoft is trying to sell the product, they make it look good but suck.

The Macintosh operating system is better than Windows, but due to its closed nature, less modifications are possible, and I often come across software that's PPC only or 10.6+ only or something.

Just to be clear, I'm well familiar with both Windows and Mac. I far prefer FLOSS software, and I find a Linux terminal much easier than looking through the Windows control panel only to find that the setting isn't in the same place as the previous version of Windows.

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I prefer Linux for moral reasons, however I do have Windows 7 (100% legal) dual booting for gaming.

What is interesting is that the current poll results are in no way reflective of market share. e.g. Linux has by far smallest market share among consumers but it currently has more votes than Mac. Also Windows has only just got 50% of the votes while it has almost 90% market share.

Just goes to show how different we are...

Thanks,
timytamy

PS: At the time of this post the results were: