Linux , Mac , Windows.

[P-Thunder.]

What is your prefernce? Why do you use it? Which is the best?

Iam personally all for linux, i think its great. But its a shame microsoft domonate the market and is main stream.

[CUatTHEFINISH]

I think this will be an okay informational "debate" as long as we don't participate in "Which is the best" part. So if possible, let's refrain from that one. Because there really isn't the #1 operating system. It's what you need you're computer to do.

Linux by far is the most versatile, Windows is bloated, but has the most support for users who aren't power users, and is the only system that will run the most programs. The mac is, well, a mac. People use it for their own reasons. Whether it be video editing or photo editing. But that's all personal preference. I'm accustomed to editing on the PC. I haven't found much use of linux yet. But I'm just too lazy to boot to it. Ubuntu is sitting on my Hard Drive.

[Flarty]

microsoft, cause it dominates the market and is mainstream :P

[DarkFlood]

I'm between all three.. On one hand, you have microsoft which has the best support for computer games. (Not many Mac games and Linux can be unstable with them) But On the other hand, you have the ultra-low cpu usage linux with its ultra-high security.. Good for doing things that you don't want others seeing. However, the Mac, while not great for games or servers, it is well designed for graphical engineering and things that involve graphics.

[El]

Which is why we all need to get a Mac that can run Windows!

Problems solved.

[e-freak]

Windows - just because iam too lazy to work around. And seriously: My mouse needs 8 Buttons which is a reason against mac ;) Also the old apple machines always made me think of game consoles where you couldn't change the hardware propaply and linux made problems everytime i used it - it just made it everytime another thing so i returned to windows.

Though: Atm i won't upgrade to Vista. Maybe i'll upgrade in 2 years then it is mostly fixed and gets cheaper and my hardware runs it together with a game :)

[bluseychris]

Mac's are great if you want simplicity. They are the best for Media editing (the major animation/art & design firms use them for a reason). Hardware wise if it'll work in a PCI or AGP/EPCI slot for a PC then it'll work in a mac. This obviously excludes gfx cards with WRAM but then they're platform specific anyway. Downside they're expensive. That said they'll last for absolutely ages and you get your money's worth. Hence why the industry love them as does my dad.

Windows - Could of been killed off easily when 95 faced off against O/S 2, but it had a bigger marketing budget and thus became the dominant operating system in the world. Has the big advantage that the majority of the worlds software runs on it, majority of general office/admin staff use it. Has the disadvantage that it's constantly the target of hackers/virus'. Compared to MacOS it's surprisingly harder to use although wizards make things simpler, they can often be hidden away and a casual user may have trouble finding out what to do. Prone to crash and throw up errors though it's getting much more stable. If you're after lots and lots of software choices go Windows. Otherwise get a Mac.

Linux Based O/S - This was originally for developers and coding enthusiasts only. It's become more user friendly over the years and some hardware companies are starting to support it more. Due to the many distributions, effectively being different styles of Linux O/S, there's practically one for every need. The problems do arise with hardware though, lack of drivers being the culprit. As new drivers are released you can compile/download them and install to your hearts content. Also the naming for releases can be confusing. Many full programs look like update patches because they include the Kernal version the prog was written for in the name. Majority of the software is free so that's great for schools (many Welsh village schools use Linux) and for small business'. Have the big advantage of the Live distro, and OS on 1 cd that runs off the CD. All you need is a cd rom drive and if you like it you can install.

Main distro's

Mac - PPC Linux
PC home - Mandriva/Mandrake
Server/Office PC - Red Hat

[Dr.Aaron]

Windows, because it's the only one I've used. :P

[OddFlame 2.0]

Windows. Gaming. Enough said.

[P-Thunder.]

Linux users evreywhere are all hoping that games will soon support linux out of the box. Some do. But most dont becuase they use DirectX, which as you know is a microsoft product, so obviously linux does not support it. But linux does support OpenGL, which is why some games run streight away on linux, all they need is a few configurations and away you go!

I think that games would run so much better under linux if they out of the box supported it, becuase most linux distrobutions use hardly any system resources, there for more RAM free and CPU useage for the game.

Graphic drivers are a big problem for linux, ATI has very poor drivers for linux, only selected cards have 3D support from the drivers. As for NVIDIA, they have great linux drivers.

[stickittotheman]

I LOVE LINUX SO MUCH... and I hate microsoft for dominating the market and making PC the only useful thing about, Mac and Linux are both ok, (I kinda hate macs though..) but nothing runs on them. And WINE and cedega are ****ty.

[P-Thunder.]

You get very little perfromace out of those programs, so times games refuse to run under it.

[geekofalltrades]

Honestly, I've never used linux. My family has always used windows, and I've never had a problem with it: in fact, I just recently started using XP Media Center Edition (up from Win98), and I'm friggin' in love with it. I think I'll stick with it a while before upgrading to Vista. As for mac... I'm a bit biased against macs because my elementary school had these absolutely horrible 15-year-old macs in the computer labs, but I must say that OS X is pretty slick. (I thinks it looks nicer than WinXP.) I still think that the whole 'one button mouse' bit is unexcuseable. Get with the program, apple, jfc.

[El]

One button mouses are a thing of the past, my friend.

[zim]

I thought this forum wasent going to have this kind of debate.

[mike016256]

MAC!!!!
8 Reasons:

1. They're sexy.

2. They can be as simple or complicated as the user's proficiency determines.

3. The architecture of the OS is ridiculously more stable than Windows.

4. They work well with 99.9 percent of the peripherals on the market. (Without all the BS of Microsoft vs software drivers and such. Just plug it in and go.)

5. All the productivity programs they come with:
Garage Band
iMovie
iTunes
iDVD
iCal
iPhoto
iChat
Spotlight
Dashboard
Spaces
All with seamless integration.

Compare that to:
Windows Media Player
Windows Movie Maker
Paint

6. They can run Windows better than many PCs.

7. They work.

8. Did I mention that they're sexy?

By the way, Vista is such a copycat of OS X.
And just because one is more mainstream than the other doesn't make it better. The only reason that it is mainstream is because Windows applies to businesses.

By the way two, you use almost any multi-button mouse on a Mac.

Any other reasons I forgot? :D