Which OS to use?

[Scorcheddd]

I used to be a windows guy, but then swapped to mac when I bought my laptop 3 years ago, and now I'm getting a desktop. I'm considering using Linux, as i've started to really like open source.

 

What do you all think? What are the pro's and cons of each OS?

[Ember]

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[Tim]

Well I dunno much on Linux personally but unless you REALLY know your way around it etc Stick with Win7. Especially if your a gamer.

[pure_fett]

i personally have my desktop double booted with windows xp and win7....

 

but i will say linux is GREAT if you know what your doing, and the learning curve is rather steep unless you've worked with unix / linux systems before

[Sbrideau]

Really depends on what you plan to do.

 

I personally know that I will be formatting my computer and probably going back to the first Linux distro I used which is Ubuntu. Currently on Windows 7 but I'm not a computer gamer anymore. Just a shame that on my laptop though Ubuntu doesn't support the wireless card.

[indy500fan]

There are a decent amount of Windows specific applications (like many games). If you use a lot of those, stick with Windows if you use none or hardly any then just use Linux and put WINE on it if you need to.

[Hawks]

If you prefer to use applications that rely on Windows (like MS Office), or a lot of games, stick with Windows. It also has a small learning curve, as opposed to Linux. On the other hand, you can do just about anything you want with Linux, so if you want to tinker and get everything you can out of your computer, it's probably easier to use Linux. imo, I'd only get a Mac if I was going to do heavy graphics work; I personally hate Apple products.

 

I regularly use a Windows 7 comp and it's great. XP is decent as well, although I prefer 7.

[Guy]

I'm using ubuntu on my laptop and it does have quite a steep learning curve. I can't say how easy it is to use after that curve seeing as I'm still somewhere at the bottom of it :P Windows 7 is very nice to use, tons of programs support it and its quite fast. There's probably a majority of programs for windows. Mac OS involves buying a mac, so I would just say no (let's not go there again).

[dsavi]

I'd only get a Mac if I was going to do heavy graphics work; I personally hate Apple products.

Speaking as someone whose job is basically heavy graphics work, I can say that with a few exceptions this whole "OS X is better for graphics" thing is a myth. All of Pixar's animators, compositors, riggers, and probably modelers and technical directors use Linux (Fedora last I heard). And their movies are rendered on Linux. Enough said.

Not really, I could go on.

 

About use of Linux for general home use however, I would argue that Ubuntu has made it so easy to Get Stuff Done (Too easy for some people) that all of the stuff that the average computer user wants to do is easily just as good or better than Windows/OS X. As for the rest of the stuff, it really depends on what you want to do. Graphics work great- In fact, open-source graphics software is all I use for my job as a freelance web and graphic designer. Video is a little bit more patchy, but it's improving at a rapid pace. I don't claim to know anything about audio, but from my knowingly-uneducated layman's perspective, it's OK at least. Gaming... Well, it depends on which game, Source games (HL2, TF2, CSS, Portal...) and WoW are known to work excellently. Servers, databases, programming etc. on Linux obviously work great but that's possibly not what you're into.

[Hawks]

[hide=quotes]

I'd only get a Mac if I was going to do heavy graphics work; I personally hate Apple products.

Speaking as someone whose job is basically heavy graphics work, I can say that with a few exceptions this whole "OS X is better for graphics" thing is a myth. All of Pixar's animators, compositors, riggers, and probably modelers and technical directors use Linux (Fedora last I heard). And their movies are rendered on Linux. Enough said.

Not really, I could go on.

 

About use of Linux for general home use however, I would argue that Ubuntu has made it so easy to Get Stuff Done (Too easy for some people) that all of the stuff that the average computer user wants to do is easily just as good or better than Windows/OS X. As for the rest of the stuff, it really depends on what you want to do. Graphics work great- In fact, open-source graphics software is all I use for my job as a freelance web and graphic designer. Video is a little bit more patchy, but it's improving at a rapid pace. I don't claim to know anything about audio, but from my knowingly-uneducated layman's perspective, it's OK at least. Gaming... Well, it depends on which game, Source games (HL2, TF2, CSS, Portal...) and WoW are known to work excellently. Servers, databases, programming etc. on Linux obviously work great but that's possibly not what you're into.

[/hide]

 

Hey, good to know. Now I can't defend Macs at all. :thumbsup: Though it really ought to be made more well known that Pixar uses mostly Linux, that's pretty neat.

[RSBDavid]

If you are looking for an OS which will never gonna give up usefulness, never gonna let you down by blue screening, never gonna turn around with a few hundred viruses, which are false, and will never hurt your overall speed. Don't choose windows. I would go for Linux Fedora or Ubuntu.

 

 

 

 

(horrible pun attempt)

[dsavi]

[hide=quotes]

I'd only get a Mac if I was going to do heavy graphics work; I personally hate Apple products.

Speaking as someone whose job is basically heavy graphics work, I can say that with a few exceptions this whole "OS X is better for graphics" thing is a myth. All of Pixar's animators, compositors, riggers, and probably modelers and technical directors use Linux (Fedora last I heard). And their movies are rendered on Linux. Enough said.

Not really, I could go on.

 

About use of Linux for general home use however, I would argue that Ubuntu has made it so easy to Get Stuff Done (Too easy for some people) that all of the stuff that the average computer user wants to do is easily just as good or better than Windows/OS X. As for the rest of the stuff, it really depends on what you want to do. Graphics work great- In fact, open-source graphics software is all I use for my job as a freelance web and graphic designer. Video is a little bit more patchy, but it's improving at a rapid pace. I don't claim to know anything about audio, but from my knowingly-uneducated layman's perspective, it's OK at least. Gaming... Well, it depends on which game, Source games (HL2, TF2, CSS, Portal...) and WoW are known to work excellently. Servers, databases, programming etc. on Linux obviously work great but that's possibly not what you're into.

[/hide]

Hey, good to know. Now I can't defend Macs at all. :thumbsup: Though it really ought to be made more well known that Pixar uses mostly Linux, that's pretty neat.

Yeah, if you look at the behind the scenes videos you can see they're using Linux all over.

[Sbrideau]

If you are looking for an OS which will never gonna give up usefulness, never gonna let you down by blue screening, never gonna turn around with a few hundred viruses, which are false, and will never hurt your overall speed. Don't choose windows. I would go for Linux Fedora or Ubuntu.

 

Blue screens on Windows are generally coming from bad drivers or bad RAM. Most of the time it isn't even something coming from the OS, so don't go about [bleep]ing Windows because of this.

 

That said, I have never had a Blue screen on the Vista installation on my old computer, or the Windows 7 Pro installation that is on my laptop (fresh install a few days after it came out), or the Windows 7 Ultimate installation that I have on my computer I built 1 year ago.

 

Anyway I do prefer a Linux distro over Windows though, but I guess it's for different reasons than you.

 

And if you weren't serious, I'm sure some people would take you seriously.

[jasignhagj]

I've only ever had one bluescreen, from an unstable RAM overclock.

[das1330]

If you are looking for an OS which will never gonna give up usefulness, never gonna let you down by blue screening, never gonna turn around with a few hundred viruses, which are false, and will never hurt your overall speed. Don't choose windows. I would go for Linux Fedora or Ubuntu.

 

better to have drivers which crash once in a blue moon then drivers that don't work at all. Linux is great for IT managers running server farms due to the open source nature and simplicity of the platform, but for regular (IE desktop) users, there are really no valid reasons to run it.

 

 

OP: get windows 7, it's an excellent OS designed for desktop use (and much improved from the vista days).

[dsavi]

better to have drivers which crash once in a blue moon then drivers that don't work at all. Linux is great for IT managers running server farms due to the open source nature and simplicity of the platform, but for regular (IE desktop) users, there are really no valid reasons to run it.

• It's free
  
• Updates are free
  
• It generally runs faster
  
• No need for antivirus/antispyware
  
• It makes a lot of things a lot less complicated than on Windows (IMO the general UI is much simpler, on Ubuntu at least)
  
• Very easy to install programs
  

Those would be the reasons that I use Linux if I was just a desktop user.

[stevepole]

Well I think in the case of Pixar they build their software for very specific needs so running Linux makes the most sense.

 

I personally love Macs but it all comes down to your personal preference, which is the truest statement for your average consumer.

[Guy]

better to have drivers which crash once in a blue moon then drivers that don't work at all. Linux is great for IT managers running server farms due to the open source nature and simplicity of the platform, but for regular (IE desktop) users, there are really no valid reasons to run it.

• It's free
  
• Updates are free
  
• It generally runs faster
  
• No need for antivirus/antispyware
  
• It makes a lot of things a lot less complicated than on Windows (IMO the general UI is much simpler, on Ubuntu at least)
  
• Very easy to install programs
  

Those would be the reasons that I use Linux if I was just a desktop user.

I would agree with most of that, apart from

It makes a lot of things a lot less complicated than on Windows (IMO the general UI is much simpler, on Ubuntu at least)

Maybe the UI is a bit simpler, but for the day-to-day user with little computer-related knowledge, Linux is harder to use to do more complex things. Also, for your average user, there's less software out there - most of it is designed for windows.

[InkofDeath]

Linux is harder to use to do more complex things. Also, for your average user, there's less software out there - most of it is designed for windows.

Disagree. It is easier to do complex things on Linux than it is on Windows (and it there will be little to no bugs, problems or complications). Example: Partitioning a hard drive. Example 2: Installing from source code and leaving out certain parts of the program. I can't think of a scientific/statistical example on top of the general user and programmer examples, but I know there is. I think what you meant to say that in the beginning everything feels more complicated. Even though in reality, in the short-term and long-term, the majority of things are easier than Windows (and Macs).

 

I'm about to give a long-winded reply, so skip to the bottom if you want my summary/advice.

 

I always heard how much better Linux was than Windows. How it was a mystical, amazing, and creative wonderland of awesomeness. So I tried it two years ago and it was a disappointment. I then tried it again 7 months ago and I fell in love with it. Here's why.

 

When I first used Linux, it was Ubuntu. Why did I decide to use Linux? Because of all of the hype around it. It sounded fun and a way to get ahead of those who only use Windows. First boot I explored it, saw all of the differences between it and Windows and I was just disappointed. Do I specifically boot into this to do word documents and internet browsing and potentially watch movies/look at pictures? Is that worth the hassle of booting back into Windows to play video games? So I stopped using it. It was an utter failure and it felt like the only people who used Linux were very specific specialized fields and uber nerds who want to be 'different'.

 

I realize now though that the reason for this is that there was no reason at the time for me to use Linux at all. I used a computer to play video games. Not for anything else, especially a key reason why Linux would be largely useful.

 

So speed up the time and I have work to do on the computer. A lot of work in a lot of different fields. Word processing, video rendering, graphic manipulation and animation, web developing, programming, and very little video game playing in comparison to two years ago. I, for some reason, decided to try Fedora out, see if it was different. It was different, but it is still the same Linux experience as Ubuntu.

 

Instead of just exploring, I searched Google for programs pertaining to what work I need to do. I then realize I need to learn a lot about Linux before I try to do anything. Basic OS Computing 101. After the initial week of testing things out, seeing that there was a HUGE amount of variation in the programs I needed to do my work, I started to see the differences, aka, benefits compared to Windows.

 

I started doing my work. And I was doing a lot more of it in a shorter period of time. I was also able to do certain things in one half a second step, instead of spending 10 minutes doing it. And not once did I spent 10 minutes trying to do something that takes half a second in Windows. This is a large reason I stuck with Fedora. Not one single thing has proven to take longer than in Windows. Nothing (yet?).

 

Here's an example:

 

When I render a 720p video, I could have about 4-7 tabs open in any given browser. Beyond that I'd run out of memory and the render would fail, or Windows would become unusable. On Linux however, I could render a 720p video not only faster, but I could also have 3-6 other programs open and be browsing the internet with 15 - 20 tabs open, with no lag, or sign that I was stressing the system. It was amazing and I could do so many more things at once. And each thing, because of the variety of programs and variety of each program, had features that allowed me to increase my productivity a ridiculous amount. I tried to go back to Windows to do some things and everything was slower. In starting, running, operating, closing a program, in navigating through windows explorer, manipulating data...etc. Everything on every level was slower in some way or another.

 

And that is the key word/reason I spoke of before: productivity.

 

If you have nothing to be productive about, then Linux is not for you. If you have a hobby of photography, that is still productive and Linux would benefit you over Windows. If however, you were like me and 90% of your time on the computer was video games, Linux is going to do nothing for you, not yet anyways. Linux boosted my productivity and performance, aside from gaming, in anything from 20% to 150%. I feel like saying Linux isn't for leisure activities, but it can be, depending on what leisure is to you.

 

If all you do is browse the internet, and look at pictures/videos, it doesn't matter which OS you use. If you work, or have work to do, or something that contributes to being productive and that takes up 60% to 80% of your computer usage, you should be using Linux.

 

And in my opinion, gaming on Linux is 'possible' and it is obviously going to gather major support sooner or later. Eventually there will be no reason not to use Linux over Windows.

 

From this, you need to think what you use a computer for. You need to see if Linux is going to benefit your productivity that it merits dualbooting or not using Windows.

[dsavi]

Linux is harder to use to do more complex things. Also, for your average user, there's less software out there - most of it is designed for windows.

Disagree. It is easier to do complex things on Linux than it is on Windows (and it there will be little to no bugs, problems or complications). Example: Partitioning a hard drive. Example 2: Installing from source code and leaving out certain parts of the program.

This.

 

The Windows command line is almost completely useless. To change some advanced setting you have to go through five levels of UI junk instead of one or two commands.

When I render a 720p video, I could have about 4-7 tabs open in any given browser. Beyond that I'd run out of memory and the render would fail, or Windows would become unusable. On Linux however, I could render a 720p video not only faster, but I could also have 3-6 other programs open and be browsing the internet with 15 - 20 tabs open, with no lag, or sign that I was stressing the system. It was amazing and I could do so many more things at once. And each thing, because of the variety of programs and variety of each program, had features that allowed me to increase my productivity a ridiculous amount. I tried to go back to Windows to do some things and everything was slower. In starting, running, operating, closing a program, in navigating through windows explorer, manipulating data...etc. Everything on every level was slower in some way or another.

This. This. This.

 

It is crazy what I can do on Linux without it crashing. Whenever I have to use Windows (All too often, almost exclusively at school however) it disappoints me at what it can't handle.

I have a habit of screwing up my Linux installation over time, so now, at 16 days before the next Ubuntu release, my installation of Ubuntu runs really "slow". That means it takes me about a minute to get to my desktop. Windows just won't do that, and once it's at the desktop Windows just fails at staying responsive.

[Guy]

I do see all of your points, but as I said if you're just a casual user who doesn't do anything special, Linux can be a little complicated if you don't want to learn (and if you don't want to learn, Linux is never a good choice..).

 

To OP, you could always just try Linux, run it off a live CD or dual boot and see if you like it. Keep a copy of windows on your HDD if you want to play games or use applications that aren't supported by linux.