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Linux vs. OS X


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Which OS is better?  

338 members have voted

  1. 1. Operating Systems

    • Linux
      99
    • OS X
      239


104 posts in this topic

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Depends on what you are doing I guess. :) I like both, although Linux always feels sorta unpolished when I'm using it as a workstation (in either Gnome or KDE). Always little discrepancies that annoy me.

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Definitely both, each for their use.. Linux is faster, osx is easier to use...

 

I often think that elements of both would make the ultimate OS, but could something as slick & coherent as osx come out of opensource? Then again, could the kind of versatility & support that linux has come from anything else?

Edited by Hagar
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Here are the things that I see:

 

Linux

Pros:

1. Highly customizable

2. Many options

3. Almost fully open source

4. Secure

5. Mostly free

6. Good online support

7. Stable

 

Cons:

1. Distro options can be duanting

2. Cluttered with too many customizable options

3. Horrible UI (sorry, I know this is debatable, but KDE and Gnome just require too many sacrifices. I have high hopes for KDE 4 though)

4. Tough learning curve

5. Little attention to detail

6. Not noob friendly (for the most part)

7. Important things like Flash, Java, MS Fonts, and even mp3 codecs don't come standard (most of the time)

8. Self-compiling installation of apps

9. Too many versions for good software distribution

10. Lack of driver support

 

OS X

Pros:

1. Simple to use, very intuitive

2. Small learning curve

3. BSD foundation

4. Fast support and bug fixes

5. Good community

6. About to take over the OS world :)

7. Consistant UI

 

Cons:

1. Not free

2. Kernel is a mix-and-match, and not very well optimized

3. Not the fastest OS

4. PPC and x86 versions will make it difficult in the short term for simple software/hardware support

5. Partially open source, but not quite

6. Too much proprietary-ness (AAC, etc)

 

What say you?

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Kde on mac osx exists :

 

http://dot.kde.org/1073009304/

Though why anyone would want to run KDE on OS X is beyond me.

 

I rather use OS X than Linux. For one thing OS X was designed so that you would never ever need to use Terminal unless you wanted too. Linux on the other hand requires you to use Console with a lot of tasks. Almost all commercial desktop apps are available on OS X. Not a lot of commercial desktop apps are available on Linux.

 

Linux being free is great but you get what you paid for. Pay peanuts get peanuts. It may be robust but dont expect your granny to start her own Apache webserver on her computer.

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I have been trying to find a replacement for windows for a couple of years and have tried many version of Linux. The same thing has always stop me from using Linux and that is the many different ways to install programs. Plus the need to have this program to run this program (dependancies) never liked that. I'm not a fan of command line input and I just found that in Linux that all I was doing.

 

Mac on the other hand is easy to use, software is easy to install. I also like the look of Mac, Linux just looks like s**t and unfinished. Linux is a powerful OS but what good is power if the average user can't understand it. Mac is simple to use but still very powerful under the hood. Linux needs to be streamlined a bit, way to many versions. Linux will never be a main stream OS at least in the near future anyway. It will remain a hardcore geek thing until some better organization happens.

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If dependencies are what is holding you back, Try out Debian for a month or two. Get used to apt-get command or the GUI installer/ Update daemon. Even better, Ubuntu is a great beginner's nix OS. Automatrix is a great script if you need to install the most popular codecs, plugins, nV drivers, and more.

 

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=66563

 

PS, please don't turn this into a apt vs. yum thread.

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  • 1 month later...

Overall Linux has much better foundations (thanks to GPL, Linux can use BSD code, but BSD can't use Linux code, which keeps Linux superior in my opinion) and is a lot faster.

 

But of course, OSX has a much nicer UI. (except the Finder application which sucks compared to Konqueror)

I always hated computers which aren't custom PCs (that include Apple).

OSX 10.4.3 works very well on my laptop, but I still prefer running Linux as my main OS.

Maybe I would use OSX more if it could replace Windows completly in the future (and Linux don't) and of course if I can get future versions of OSX to run on my computer.

Edited by zorxd
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We've need this thread for awhile, and I'm surprised that no one has started it yet!

 

Which is better, in your opinion? Linux or OS X?

 

Why?

 

for desktop ? for server ?

desktop - osx

server - linux(or freebsd)

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I would have to say hands down Linux. Red Hat Enterprise for my web servers and Ubuntu for my workstation. It's just unfortunate that ATI drivers trully suck on Linux.

 

I can see what you mean! Link.

 

A GeForceFX 5700 beating an X800, that's just not right.

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I can see what you mean! Link.

 

A GeForceFX 5700 beating an X800, that's just not right.

I don' know how old those benches are but that about roght. The problem is that high end ATI drivers are closed sourse, unlike the nV drivers. They have been working on nV drivers for a while now. You can even have the same gui interface as Vista and OS X on an nV card. I can't say the same for ATI.

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I don' know how old those benches are but that about roght. The problem is that high end ATI drivers are closed sourse, unlike the nV drivers. They have been working on nV drivers for a while now. You can even have the same gui interface as Vista and OS X on an nV card. I can't say the same for ATI.

 

Yea, looks like if I'm going to run Linux, I should get a nVidia card, which I don't mind doing.

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hmm since i use gentoo and mac os, i guess im stuck inbetween this arguement. I love both. But I chose linux for this poll to due the fact that linux distros are usually very customizeable.

 

im glad to have both on my machine though

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I'd say linux.

 

I mean.. You're sitting there, using windows or OSX and you think you can do most of the things you like. Then you get introduced to this system with amazing scalabillity and immense power.. It's like being trapped everytime you try the normal commercial os's then..

 

Especially with the intel transition, mac gaming seems to be even less possible than linux gaming, since linux has quite a few great ports and free games + excellent "emulation" software (Crossover, Wine, Cedega).

Software which obviously let's us run a great deal of software (yea DarWine exists. But Wine is better supported on Linux since that's where it's originated from, it's where it's main user base lies and simpler to integrate it into a truly open os).

 

And about the looks. Linux can look like anything really. We can use Mac OSX widgets if we so desire. We can access a far greater range of widgets with gDesklets, Karamba and whatnot. We have multiple graphical enviroments (which admittedly look CRAPPY when they're not skinned) that can be customized to look just like anything. Look at kde-look.org, gnome-look.org, freshmeat.net for themes and examples of themes.

 

Our UI is not quite on par with OSX yet in terms of technical muscle but we're getting there (currently vector drawing mechanisms (Cairo) and transparency, shadowing and such have been more or less implemented).

And even if we're not exactly there, we absolutely smoke any legally available Windows build (and by the time Vista gets there, we'll be ready)

 

On the subject of kernels. Tests clearly show that OSX have the wrong kernel implementation, monolitchic/micro-kernels (whatever that hellspawn thing is!) are much slower than the fast and modular Linux kernels.

 

It's worth to note that one of the reasons Microsoft scrapped the Longhorn project and started over (Vista) was that they could no longer deal with one large kernel themselves. It was too slow, buggy and troublesome.

 

Being a biology student, I find it fascinating that the Linux kernel employs the same principles of modularity that bacteria-cells does. It's pretty obvious to most that bacteria are one of the most successful (adaptable) lifeforms of our planet :(

 

Also it's quite funny to note that there's a lot of apps that improve the Linux desktop experience. Take Beagle for example, it crawls through your directories and lets you search images, conversation logs, code-fragments, programs and documents in an easy and fast way (Does it's job much better than spotlight IMHO).

 

A vanilla linux won't seem as impressive as a vanilla OSX install, but if you do it right (and it's really not rocket science people) you'll end up with something which can compete quite well (and in my oppinion) surpass any other OS out there in overall.

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This is an rwars subject. People will disagree on what points are significant and which are not significant in judging an OS as being better or worse.

 

I vote OS X because it's a platform I can buy software for in a store. Linux tends not to be.

 

By this same criteria, XP is an even better platform because the number of XP compatible software boxes in all retail stores near me are much greater.

 

Linux has the potential to reach many, and who knows when OS property rights (by MS or Apple) become so distasteful to the public that they revolt and go for open source?

 

There was an aborted project to give more spit and polish, more newb friendliness, to Linux. I think one of Apple's early pioneers was behind the effort, even.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I choose OSX. Linux is great but it hasn't got the real juice: photoshop, dreamweaver,... Those apps are immense important for the majority. I would like to have a linux distro, but I couldn't live without a second OS. And that's the biggest reason why there aren't more Linux-adepts. That's a pity because Linux is a great OS.

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