Windows vs Linux Vs Mac OSX

Hi All,

I'll get this over with. Windows is the best.

Stop yelling and listen. Windows is without doubt the best. With Windows you bang a CD or DVD in you computer, click a few buttons, crack some other disks in for drivers and within an hour and a bit its completely usable. On any hardware you care to use. Every piece of hardware, from really old stuff to really new components there is a Windows driver for it. Ok so you have to pay for it, but that's Ok because everything works, and it is really user friendly. Even your granny can use it. In fact even with the new Mac hardware, you can install Windows on that too. It'll go practically anywhere you want.

Linux is good, but isn't the best by a long way. You might think that it's a long way to Belgium, but that's nothing. I have recently been playing with Fedora 9 and the new Ubuntu 8.10 releases (which no matter what they say are impossibly similar. Only the coffee stain makes the difference) and what has really struck home over the last few days, is that you really, really, need to be a fan to actually like it. These two I have tried are supposed the best for new comers to the OS (shouldn't call it an OS because neither Ubuntu or Fedora are, same as Win95, 98 and ME weren't) and they have been abominable. I can't use my driver disks that came with my hardware....no Linux support, and what I really hate is that there are about 14 different installation methods. I have spent more time in a terminal/command prompt window over the last 4 days than I have in the last 4 years. I used to enjoy this when I had DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11 but I'm tired of it now. I want my desktops to just work. Seriously. When Linux pull their respective digits out of their respective arseholes it'll be good. But just like Wikipedia this is just gonna fail. I'll give it another go in about 12 months, once the RSI has worn off.

Mac OSX
Well, well, well. What can I say. I'm impressed. You buy a machine, the OS is on there, it works. End of conversation. Wow. It's based on a random Unix kernel from the birth of Christ and has been altered so much you can't recognise it. But when it's on its home turf it's amazing. I'm not a fanboy. I hate Apple in fact. But their OS is really good. But you try and put it on some other random hardware. What happens then? It doesn't work. At all. And because Apple have their own proprietary kernel you can't just grab linux drivers and jam them in, it won't work. But it does go to show that when you have a specific hardware base and some decent programmers who are full time, just what can be achieved. You also pay the price with this though. Literally. It is expensive and you will lose all your friends, as well as any respect you have. You will also only be liked by other Apple users. Both of them.

But at the end of the day you can't compare Windows and OSX. One is designed for just about any combination of hardware you can possibly imagine. The other is purely for a specific hardware configuration. You can only compare Linux with Windows, and to be honest, the amount of money and research and development that has gone into it really shows. When Linux can speak to hardware manufacturers and and get some real drivers for the specific hardware, that's when I'll switch. But not before.

To be honest I wasn't sure where I was going with this blog, I think I was getting there gradually, but I was distinctly lacking in parking facilities, motorways and the cheap hotel. I did however manage to get hold of a Corby Trouser Press at the end, which, judging by the quality of this article, I used for making toasted cheese sandwiches.

Thanks for reading,