There is plenty of debate about which OS is better. All of them have their strong points and weak points.

I will start by saying that as per normal RCTpyro debates this is not to turn into a flame fest! This is an open discussion on the qualities and failures of the operating systems.

We all know that windows is "user friendly" but how friendly are viruses. We all know that MACs are great for graphic development like cad and 3d, but how much did you pay for that box. We all know that NIX is great for software development, but how long did it take you to learn to use it?

This is a 3 way debate debate, choose a side and run with it.

/end impartial opening

windows includes all versions from 3.1>vista
mac includes all mac OS old to new mac OSX
nix includes all variants from lynix, unix ect.

Boom! This topic will go up in flames!

Mac OS all the way, *nix follows closely. Windows isn't worth the cost involved to make the boxes they're packaged in, or the time it takes for the light to reflect off Vista's oh-so-shiny-and-buggy interface into my eye. Hell, it wasn't worth the minute power it took in my brain to formulate that sentence.

Yet you play games on windows, is this due to mac's compatibility problems? Or is there an underlying love of direct X.Now I am rather impartial on the whole debate, all of the OS have problems. But if the job gets done then thats what I will use.

I currently only have windows boxes in my house and thats because it works and I can quickly sort the problems out, I would have no problems adding a mac or a nix box if there was a need. Alas there is not, I do not have special coding requirements that can only be built in a NiX environment, If they stop working in cygwin or a few other windows compilers i have around then the switch to a dual boot nix will be called for.

My cad, 3d and music creation doesn't go anywhere. So there is currently no need to step up and head for a mac.

I may defend windows on the principles that the hardware every version is released on is not up for it. A clean install of vista requires 800mb of ram(results may vary), this is without shutting down services no anti virus etc. Never mind the graphic card requirement for the new "effects." It was the same with XP, 256mb of ram was the starter, i know XP runs about 200-300 clean install.

Haven't got vista yet and your PC needs a boost? Do what I am going to do go buy 4gb of ram and an OEM vista ultimate(OEM you can get with any hardware purchase depends on shop). It will cost the same as a full copy of ultimate with no ram. This is considering you have DDR2 ram slots on your mobo and a dual core processor. If not then It would be wise to wait for prices to drop more and get a whole new PC.

/flame suit

I play games in windows because I have no choice.

Mac architecture can deal with games fine, most likely better than Windows. However, from a business point of view, there is no point porting games over because Mac still represents one of the minorities in the market. Therefore, they won't sell near as much as they do with Windows. It's slowly happening though, EA and id software have signed deals and such with Mac.

Trust me, I don't play games on Windows thanks to my love of DX. I'm forced to thanks to the big guys with money. I'd stay well clear of Windows if I could, but I can't live without my games

*nix wins because it could mean, linux (all the good different distros) and mac (macs are based on linux).

Basically, in my opinion:

Windows = the gaming OS
Mac = the productive OS
Linux = the do everything but game OS

I converted to linux quite a while back thanks to the instability of windows, got sick of BSoD's, virus scares, constantly updating antivirus etc. was really pathetic

Add:- Vista needs about 2-4gig of RAM depending on how many programs you have installed, when linux uses 180mb of RAM even with the really shiny effects that you can enable

Interesting,

Well lets look at the history of things,

Mac OS = Rippoff of Xerox's OS
Windows = Ripoff of Mac OS
Unix Shows up somewhere in here but is not freely distributable
Every time Mac makes a new OS the next version of windows is sure to rip it off for cool features
The *nix Evolution Redhat, Debain, Ubuntu Etc yay everyone can have unix for free, but how the hell do you run it!
Mac Decides to jump on the nix bandwagon with OS X, its pretty but its really *nix in the background running everything.
Windows goes oooooh Pretty, but doesnt catch on to the *nix part of it and vista is pretty but slow

I have to say the argument that windows OS are painfully hardware dependent seems silly to me, When Apple created OS X they made a major jump in the graphics abilities and core rendering systems for the OS but you can still run OS X on some of their oldest G* machines without lag or running out of memory. I think the Vista design is just sloppy and assumes everyone will buy better hardware, so why spend time and money to design and code it properly.

Now I run OS X on Several Machines as well as Windows XP on several machines. All of my editing and compositing work as well as audio work is done in OS X, where as all my gaming and office and 3D work is done on PC.

What this all boils down to is eventually here am I planning to buy a 17" Mac Book Pro and dual boot OS X and XP. Vista makes me cry every time I touch a system running it.

As for the *nix users out there, it is great, but it is still not horribly friendly. The GPL and GNU revolution has really helped its cause with products like Ink and Open Office etc. but it is still not the most user friendly system in the world and really is best suited for server style applications.

Of course when im itching for some *nix action I just open up the terminal in OSX and fart around in Darwin.

I use windows but I would love to have a mac. I guess windows is my favorite though.

Then why would you 'love' a mac?

I would Love to have A mac, But I still like windows.

This post has been edited by RCT3pyromaster: Nov 13 2007, 09:27 PM

Mac OS.

Some have said once you switch you wonder why you hadn't done it sooner. I found that to be extremely true when I switched back in June. Mac does everything my windows computer did, except play RCT which was easily solved by a duel boot with XP (running back to OS X the instant I exit the game).

I have tried to work with Vista on several occasions ending up in frustration and some Advil to follow. Doing some of the simplest tasks like installing iTunes for my brother and the iPod I gave him took far longer than it should have, not to mention trying to find a good compatible video converter to go along.

Microsoft knows Vista was a disaster and said they learned a lot of what not to do for their next...

"I guess windows is my favorite though."

Hmm?

Now you are just being confrontational

Mac. OS

I have a computer that runs on Vista but I've recently used the new Leopard OS on my friend's computer and it was really good. I'm saving up some money to help pay it off for Chistmas.

I am quite surprised, everyone except brad, has been quite on topic without picking out issues to flame.

Every OS has a place in the market. Think about it this way, if mac gets better compatibility(more ported games) then the windows OS would not have a place on the market. But then there would be no competition and the prices would be even higher than they are now.

The limited competition in the market, yes there is some, keeps the prices not to absorbent. Who wants to pay $2k for a box and $2k for the OS(prices are theoretical for discussion sakes). I would go for a *nix variant maybe red hat or ubuntu if this was the case.

Eh? I've been perfectly on topic and haven't flamed anyone. You asked for opinions, I gave mine.

This post has been edited by Brad: Nov 19 2007, 06:17 PM