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Which do you think is best out of these operating systems?
Poll ended at 12 May 2010, 8:14 am
Microsoft Windows 32%  32%  [ 18 ]
Mac OS X 21%  21%  [ 12 ]
Linux/GNU 40%  40%  [ 23 ]
BSD 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Other OS e.g. (Haiku,Plan 9, Opensolaris,Amiga) 4%  4%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 57

WillMcC
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24 Apr 2010, 7:37 pm

While I personally prefer Windows (I run XP and 7), I can't say that it is the "best". Different operating systems are good for different things. Linux is free software (but it isn't compatible with everything), Windows is compatible with nearly all software packages and games (but can be prone to malware), and Macintosh based operating systems are easy to use and difficult to screw up (but are not compatible with everything)



DNForrest
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24 Apr 2010, 9:23 pm

Windows is the best for doing my engineering work (running simulation programs and Excel), so I have it on my desktop. However, I have Linux on my laptop because it's faster and more stable.



Orwell
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24 Apr 2010, 9:49 pm

WillMcC wrote:
While I personally prefer Windows (I run XP and 7), I can't say that it is the "best". Different operating systems are good for different things. Linux is free software (but it isn't compatible with everything), Windows is compatible with nearly all software packages and games (but can be prone to malware), and Macintosh based operating systems are easy to use and difficult to screw up (but are not compatible with everything)

More precisely, most software and games are compatible with Windows. OS X and Linux both do a better job of adhering to standards than Windows does, but since Windows predominates on the desktop software publishers write their software for Windows.

As far as the stability issue, Ventanas Siete has been pretty stable for me so far. Moreso than some Linux distros.


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Fuzzy
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25 Apr 2010, 12:11 am

Orwell wrote:
As far as the stability issue, Ventanas Siete has been pretty stable for me so far. Moreso than some Linux distros.


You gettin all elitist on us? :P


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Orwell
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25 Apr 2010, 12:20 am

No, but to be truthful I haven't had any crashes yet in the newest version of Ventanas. Fedora was quite a bit less stable, and I've gotten a kernel panic or two out of Karmic. Then Jaunty was pretty bad in a lot of respects, and the older versions of Compiz (I'm thinking mostly Intrepid-Jaunty where I observed this) had weird incompatibilities that would cause complete system hangs. Even OS X has crashed on me once or twice, or at the least locked up very annoyingly.


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danieltaiwan
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25 Apr 2010, 8:21 am

iceb wrote:
I will actually use whatever is loaded on the machine in front of me I have no beef against windows 7 which is actualy quite good, Mac OSX is OK most forms of *NIX work well but my OS of choice is eComStation.


I've heard about eCOmstation.
Because it's based off OS/2 which is similar to windows does that give it some amount of compatibility with Windows programs or do you need some sort of program like Wine for Linux?



geedee
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25 Apr 2010, 5:14 pm

I been using a Mac OS since the ninieties at home and at work and it's got into my system. I had to use a Windows laptop for a while at work and I spent a lot of time in internet cafes using Windows computers because I didn't have broadband at home.

The time is slowly approaching when I'll have to replace my Power PC G5 because the latest software is requesting a mac with an Intel processor. This is really annoying because my mac works great otherwise. It's much more expensive than a Windows computer – but I'm hooked on the mac OS and I'll fork out the cash eventually.



theimperiousdork
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25 Apr 2010, 5:30 pm

I currently use Windows at home and at the office. I do, however, have my laptop on dual-boot, having both Windows 7 and Ubuntu installed. I am currently using Ubuntu as I type this post, and I am starting to love it.


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Tim_Tex
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25 Apr 2010, 8:59 pm

I use Mac OS X


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RaceDrv709
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26 Apr 2010, 1:47 pm

I have found Windows, UNIX, and it's derivatives to be the best. I personally prefer Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I use Windows when I want to play games, but for productivity, I use Ubuntu.


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Orwell
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26 Apr 2010, 6:26 pm

RaceDrv709 wrote:
I have found Windows, UNIX, and it's derivatives to be the best.

I'm pretty sure all extant operating systems today are either Windows or a UNIX derivative.


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anomie
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27 Apr 2010, 5:08 am

peterd wrote:
Thirty years of writing software has taught me that if the code's not open it's wasted effort.
I'm with the guy in the penguin suit.


Yes, yes, yes, me too. If the code's not open then it means everyone who wants it has to write it again. Endless re-invention of the wheel. So ... effing ... BORING.



anomie
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27 Apr 2010, 5:23 am

SamwiseGamgee wrote:
I've been thinking I'd like to try Linux but I'm afraid I'd end up messing up my computer.


Have you tried downloading and burning a Live CD and using that?

Boot from the CD, click "Try Ubuntu without making changes ..." and then all the time it's in the drive you can use Linux as though it is installed on your computer, without actually installing it at all!

It's a bit slow because CD drives are a lot slower than hard drives but you can get the idea.

I recommend Ubuntu for a first go. I haven't tried the latest bleeding-edge April 2010 release yet so I won't recommend it - but the 9.10 (October 2009) release is great - I use it at work. I have trouble getting Flash to work (help, anyone???) but everything else is fine.

CLICK HERE to download it. PM me if you want any advice : )



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27 Apr 2010, 6:02 pm

anomie wrote:
I have trouble getting Flash to work (help, anyone???) but everything else is fine.

Open a terminal and type "sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restricted-extras" without the quotes. If that doesn't work, google "flash [your cpu architecture (ie 32-bit or 64-bit)] ubuntu" and follow the instructions that you'll find in the first hit.


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Fuzzy
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27 Apr 2010, 6:34 pm

Orwell wrote:
anomie wrote:
I have trouble getting Flash to work (help, anyone???) but everything else is fine.

Open a terminal and type "sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restricted-extras" without the quotes. If that doesn't work, google "flash [your cpu architecture (ie 32-bit or 64-bit)] ubuntu" and follow the instructions that you'll find in the first hit.


if you dont care for terminal:

click Applications, Ubuntu Software Center and type in restricted. select ubuntu, xubuntu or kubuntu based on your particular variant, though I bet all three restricted packages are identical content. Hit the install button.


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ValMikeSmith
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28 Apr 2010, 5:29 am

Best OS is no OS.
Write programs that ONLY contain all the code they use.
Its much faster that way.
Ironically, It seems that all the programs are smaller too.
(Rarely over 64Kilobytes in my experience!)
Bootup times are so much less than a second, maybe one clock cycle.

If you need to run many programs,
the bootloader menu is smaller than all the programs too. Even if gui like PalmOS.

And, written in assembly language, they will run faster than in any other language ever,
and they will require less memory too.
That's why computers were faster in 1980 with only 1 MIPS, more or less.