Windows versus Mac

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Boltman

Can't trust Apple to patch MACs (see XARA) Apple has no bug bounty program either. Overpriced as well.

I think it's interesting you think Microsoft's track record is better for patches than Apples.
Considering the proliferation of known threats in the Windows ecosystem.

In theory Linux could be the worst considering situations where a whole package has to be removed before you can actually install something with support that is active. That's really RedHat's niche. Owning parts of RHEL that the package maintainers might not care to fix themselves.

Linux is good for stand alone systems and devices plus Web servers

Which was why Azure made a deal with RedHat.


The last 2 companies I worked for were 80% Windows hoping to be 50% Linux (50,000+ units in the data centers).
The costs are high and in Clouds: Windows doesn't like being shutdown without warning.
Microsoft has gotten better about this, and in fairness Linux is not perfect either, but still Linux is better at recovering from this.

[Boltman]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

I think it's interesting you think Microsoft's track record is better for patches than Apples.
Considering the proliferation of known threats in the Windows ecosystem.

In theory Linux could be the worst considering situations where a whole package has to be removed before you can actually install something with support that is active. That's really RedHat's niche. Owning parts of RHEL that the package maintainers might not care to fix themselves.



Which was why Azure made a deal with RedHat.



The last 2 companies I worked for were 80% Windows hoping to be 50% Linux (50,000+ units in the data centers).
The costs are high and in Clouds: Windows doesn't like being shutdown without warning.
Microsoft has gotten better about this, and in fairness Linux is not perfect either, but still Linux is better at recovering from this.

Every system was hacked at Pwn2Own 2016 this year including Windows . Windows 10 is pretty anti-hacker though with UAC and MIC Windows since Vista has been a fairly tough target. Windows Phone has received top billing at toughest mobile OS to hack and all nine FIPS certs. Microsoft for years had a hacking target on their back, they hardened the OS dramatically.

The hacks you read about today are all mobile for the most part IOS and Android.

[Toatekua]

Originally Posted by Boltman

Every system was hacked at Pwn2Own 2016 this year including Windows . Windows 10 is pretty anti-hacker though with UAC and MIC Windows since Vista has been a fairly tough target. Windows Phone has received top billing at toughest mobile OS to hack and all nine FIPS certs. Microsoft for years had a hacking target on their back, they hardened the OS dramatically.

The hacks you read about today are all mobile for the most part IOS and Android.

And ChromeOS is "unhackable".

Four years and the reward that Google has is still there.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Boltman

Every system was hacked at Pwn2Own 2016 this year including Windows . Windows 10 is pretty anti-hacker though with UAC and MIC Windows since Vista has been a fairly tough target. Windows Phone has received top billing at toughest mobile OS to hack and all nine FIPS certs. Microsoft for years had a hacking target on their back, they hardened the OS dramatically.

The hacks you read about today are all mobile for the most part IOS and Android.

FreeBSD always had a bullseye because for a decade real ISP infrastructure targets used it.
Windows has gotten much better but still the UAC does not help uninformed users.
The UAC does also not encourage least privilege.
Discounting the plethora of hacks created by common applications in the Windows ecosystem makes it easier for Microsoft to claim victories for security while blaming users for using it.

Originally Posted by Toatekua

And ChromeOS is "unhackable".

Four years and the reward that Google has is still there.

Why hack ChromeOS when you can hack Google's backend with the real targets of value?
A breach in Google Docs would wipe out some law firms I know.

[bombodail]

I use Gentoo Linux, and don't trust Apple or Microsoft with direct access to my hardware. In competition this year, our driver station was running Gentoo, with a heavily locked down windows vm. As far as I can tell so far nothing outperforms Gentoo. On my desktop at home, I use GPU pass through when needed to use Windows for GPU accelerated tasks such as CAD/CAM, and games. This way, it ensures that Windows does not directly touch the rest of my network, or any hardware except the ram, CPU cores, and GPU that I have allocated to the VM.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by bombodail

In competition this year, our driver station was running Gentoo, with a heavily locked down windows vm...
This way, it ensures that Windows does not directly touch the rest of my network, or any hardware except the ram, CPU cores, and GPU that I have allocated to the VM.

How would Windows in the VM use TCP/IP over your network without touching your network? Does your VM have EoIP or VPN tunneling?

If you put Windows in a VM it can still broadcast and can still use IPV6. Unless, of course, you disconnect the virtual network but then you have no network so you have issues using it as a dashboard over the network.

[bombodail]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

How would Windows in the VM use TCP/IP over your network without touching your network? Does your VM have EoIP or VPN tunneling?

If you put Windows in a VM it can still broadcast and can still use IPV6. Unless, of course, you disconnect the virtual network but then you have no network so you have issues using it as a dashboard over the network.

The driver station computer does not disable windows networking. On my desktop at home, I have passed a nic directly to the windows vm, and that goes directly to a dedicated port on my firewall, which has it on it's own network.

[teslalab2]

when I was little I used to love linux, and then I grew up and I'm an adult now who needs too use my computer in industry, for which linux is worthless......

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by teslalab2

when I was little I used to love linux, and then I grew up and I'm an adult now who needs too use my computer in industry, of which linux is worthless......

not taking the bait
not taking the bait
not taking the bait

[Ether]

Originally Posted by teslalab2

when I was little I used to love linux, and then I grew up and I'm an adult now who needs too use my computer in industry, of which linux is worthless......

Did you mean to say "for which" ?

[teslalab2]

thanks ether, I didn't haz all the grammers, I had none of all the grammerz, I couldn't think of the correct words to use...

[Boltman]

MY favorite system...

My Surface Pro 4 M3....these Hybrids are the future.

Runs Windows10 and Office 365 to perfection
Checks off every feature including Hello
Pen, track-pad, voice and touch
Best display on any system.
6th gen Skylake
Fanless and dead silent

I love my SP4..and students can get 10% off already reduced prices.
I had laptop prior (Vaio) ...the SP4 blows it away and I held on to my Vaio for four years because nothing was better.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by teslalab2

when I was little I used to love linux, and then I grew up and I'm an adult now who needs too use my computer in industry, for which linux is worthless......

Yeah I miss VBA in Microsoft Office when I am running Linux as well.

Then I remember Python.

[pmangels17]

I'd like to provide a bit of insight from the perspective of an engineering student.

I have an older (~5 years) MacBook Pro running OSX 10.8, which I love, and it is great for bringing to class, because it is portable, and the trackpad is unrivalled in quality. I use it mainly for web browsing and MS Office work, but it can even handle Matlab, though not once things start getting really crazy. It is my day-to-day machine, and it serves that purpose fantastically.

However, it simply cannot handle everything I throw at it. Which is why I am shifting towards my Lenovo Y510p (which I also love) running Windows 8.1. My Mac struggles with heavier programs, and doesn't support some of the software that I need for class and for my upcoming internship. My Lenovo, on the other hand, plows through software like SolidWorks and MasterCAM, though in my case, this comes at the expense of portability, though you can get lighter machines that will still run the programs you need.

If you are a prospective engineering student, and you are looking to buy a computer for college, I wholeheartedly urge you to purchase a capable Windows machine, or overpay for a MacBook Pro Retina (the better specs cost $$$) and dual-boot Windows. If you go into engineering, in my opinion, Windows is the easiest and best way to make sure you can do anything you need to do.

[Landonh12]

Honestly it comes down to personal preference. On the software side, if you want an OS that is used by the masses and has the biggest repository of programs to use, then Windows is your best bet. Windows is good for the end-user. It has a relatively easy filesystem to use, has excellent gaming performance, can be used with any hardware (including Macs!), and you can do CAD work on it.

If you want an OS that is nice, clean, easy to use and simple, and has the meat of UNIX under it, then go with OS X. OS X is the best mix of Linux and Windows that anyone has to offer. *.app's are easy to install and use, it has a great development platform in Xcode, uses Objective-C and Swift, and all-in-all is a productive OS for people that need to get work done.

Linux is for the hackers out there. You can do anything with Linux. Build your own OS? Sure! Use a terminal that has all the commands you would ever need? Yea, it has it. Linux is for the more advanced user.


--


Now for hardware. A PC is going to give you mixed results based on how much you want to pay. You can get a crappy little netbook for next to nothing or you can get a gaming laptop that even has a mechanical keyboard built into it. Not to mention building your own PC and upgrading it piece by piece over the years.

Macs are very solid machines when it comes to hardware. I got my Macbook Pro mainly because of the support, build quality, and the relatively good specs for what I do. When I first got it, it was a graduation present. I had a job making an app for a small tech firm, and I needed Xcode for iOS development. I easily made back the money I spent on it just because I got that job that required a Mac.

Apple's support system is unmatched. I drove an hour to New Orleans to get my Mac serviced, as it had problems booting. At the Apple Store, it was an easy process. They diagnosed my Mac, said they had never seen the problem before, and took it in for a fix. They shipped it to Tennessee, replaced the entire motherboard (that includes the CPU, RAM, and SSD!) free of charge, and shipped it back to me within 3 days. I almost didn't notice it was ever gone.

Windows PC's have stepped up their game lately with build quality though - if you look at PC's such as the Dell XPS and the Surface Book (ooo that Surface Book is nice. Feels like a Mac, but with a Microsoft twist).

All in all, it's personal preference, and I prefer my Macbook Pro with OS X and Windows 10 on it.