Operating system platform preference

[WizardHawk]

There are very probably 1000 OSs that destroy windows.

And sadly none of them have a fraction of the software or support and good luck getting average employees to use them as effectively as M$'s garbage.

 

[JDM]

There are plenty of Linux distributions that are perfectly well supported and can do everything a PC can do.

 

[WizardHawk]

So there are as many software options now on Linux as M$ based systems? Cool!

You aren't going to make the case for businesses to switch to Linux. You just aren't. They wan't off the shelf parts and software to just work and a substantial number of both don't work on Linux or are sketchy.

I'm not saying I hate Linux. I dabble in it here and there and keep trying to see where it is in the hopes that one day it will actually be useful for more than just a toy, but thus far it has not and still has a ways to go to get there.

Again, I do tech support for 50+ people of which maybe 3-4 would be able to make the change to linux without substantial bitching, training, and lots and lots of problems along the way.

Most dipshits can work with windows, at least through 7.

Hell one of the company big wigs here had XP until a few months ago. He got a brand new computer and wanted me to put XP on it because he didn't want to learn 7. I had to talk him into it. The EOL was only a month or so away at the time and he still wanted it.

M$ is another in a long line of companies that build a brand name for themselves and can just coast along without worry because people won't leave them even when they suck.

 

[JDM]

There are multiple flavors of Linux that are as easy to use "out of the box" as windows. I don't prefer those but they are superior to windows in every way.

 

[Goldy]

Transitioned to Mac about 5 years ago, and have zero intention of ever returning to Windows.

 

[KansasSooner]

There are multiple flavors of Linux that are as easy to use "out of the box" as windows. I don't prefer those but they are superior to windows in every way.

I wouldn't say that. Like I said earlier Ubuntu is really locking down a lot of stuff that used to be customizable. The one thing Windows really has going for it is the ability of the average user to customize it to their liking. Ubuntu should have made it Linux that way instead they have taken the MAC route. Granted you can find many derivatives of Ubuntu that are more Windows like (and somewhat less stable than Ubuntu) but that just confuses the issue of Linux vs Windows.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

My problem with Windows 8 is that they are moving to the closed garden like Apple. I'll stick with windows 7 for as long as practical . It really is a great OP and Microsoft should of held off trying to move folks off of it so soon, really wasn't a good reason to IMO.

 

[HammerDown]

There are very probably 1000 OSs that destroy windows and I am the world's leading expert on each of them.

 

[JDM]

I think Apple is more open in terms of their desktop OS than windows is. The biggest thing that Apple has changed is making dual booting obnoxious, but for the typical user that doesn't matter.

 

[jonvi]

The only thing I know is windows. Too damn old to experiment with anything else and to cheap to buy from anywhere other than a discount retailer.

 

[WizardHawk]

The only thing I know is windows. Too damn old to experiment with anything else and to cheap to buy from anywhere other than a discount retailer.

Linux doesn't cost a dime and can normally be installed on even the oldest of outdated machines you might have around that can't run windows anymore.

There are tutorials online that can have you up and running and surfing the web in under an hour.

Hell, anyone that has kids or grandkids that visit should look into it. Much safer to let kids loose on the web on a linux box than your windows computer. Much less virus/spyware that can even effect a linux box and if it's just setup for that purpose who cares. Just wipe it and reset it.

Don't have an old box lying around? Look at a 'live cd' version of Linux. No installation required. Boot to the CD or DVD and you are good to go. Remove the CD/DVD and reboot and you are back to your windows.

For my use Linux is nowhere near ready to take over as my main OS and not even in the same zipcode for an alternative for my work. It is still worth learning and has some places where it can help almost everyone.

 

[potzer25]

EMACS

 

[4down20]

I think Apple is more open in terms of their desktop OS than windows is. The biggest thing that Apple has changed is making dual booting obnoxious, but for the typical user that doesn't matter.

Well I think apple sucks. If you want to release an app on an iphone, you have to do it with their software, that they will only make for a mac. And unlike linux, you can't legally install the MacOS on a PC, it has to be on their hardware. So you can't legally just buy a copy of the OS, you have to buy everything from them. On top of that, you have to be using the newest version of the OS as well.

Remember when the iphone came out? Had to use AT&T for the service.

I can do so much more on Windows it's not even remotely comparable.

And yet, somehow Microsoft are the evil ones, while Apple is the good guys?

To me, buying a Mac is like buying a PC from Walmart. In a box, can't really do crap for it, it's there for 2 years until it's outdated, then you have to buy a new one. I've been using the same basic PC for like 8 years now. I bought a really really expensive CPU back in 2007, and built my own PC. I've had to replace the motherboard twice in it, and a video card twice. If I want to update, I can go to newegg and be completely overwhelmed by the choices available. I can go to the apple store and find fancy cases and "hip" pictures.

Bullshit on apple being somehow superior.

I like linux, but I still can't really call it better than windows. I mostly use it by command line remotely. I tried really really hard to like it more than windows, but couldn't. If I gotta run everything through WINE and crap all the time, it's not worth it.

 

[4down20]

PS: IE is shit and microsoft should feel bad and do the world a favor by discontinuing it.

 

[KansasSooner]

PS: IE is shit and microsoft should feel bad and do the world a favor by discontinuing it.

I fail to see what that has to do with OS preferences. And by the way it is quite obvious you aren't using IE 11 or you would realize you're wrong. Fact is IE is just as secure, if not more so, than any other browser out there right now.

 

[4down20]

I fail to see what that has to do with OS preferences. And by the way it is quite obvious you aren't using IE 11 or you would realize you're wrong. Fact is IE is just as secure, if not more so, than any other browser out there right now.

Most of what I do for work is centered around web development in some manner, even if just for statistical reporting. IE is always the last one to follow the standards all browsers use, and many times you are forced to write extra things specifically for IE. There are things IE will not render at all that other browsers will. IE will probably be able to do it in a year or so.

 

[WizardHawk]

IE is a necessary evil and nothing more.

There are many sites we use at work that only work on IE. Most of them have forms of some sort that simply won't work in chrome or FF. Bad coding? Probably, but it is what it is.

I prefer chrome and use it almost exclusively at home and on my phone.

Not sure what any of it has to do with OS's, but there you go.

 

[4down20]

IE is a necessary evil and nothing more.

There are many sites we use at work that only work on IE. Most of them have forms of some sort that simply won't work in chrome or FF. Bad coding? Probably, but it is what it is.

I prefer chrome and use it almost exclusively at home and on my phone.

Not sure what any of it has to do with OS's, but there you go.

Didn't mean to turn this into a browser thread. I was defending microsoft, so I thought I would make a complaint to go with it.

I'm guessing the stuff you are talking about has to do with javascript depending on how old they are. Back before Javascript had a real standard, you'd have to create javascript for each browser, so it's probably that the javascript for IE is still working, but not the others. Just a shot in the dark.

But right now as far as forms go, the exciting stuff with HTML5 is to do with forms. The forms have been expanded on a ton. Things that required lots of Javascript or jquery plugins before is now done by the browser with the simple addition of input types. In the past there was just text, but with HTML5 you can assign the input text type as email, and then make it required and the browser will automatically validate it. You can use regex pattern matching for validation as well. Completely removes the javascript. Name it a date, and it automatically gives you a calender to select a date. Even has a color picker. The built in validation returns the errors and puts them on the fields even. It's SOOOOOOO nice.

But half of it doesn't work in IE yet. Some of it does, but some of the more complicated ones don't. Luckily it doesn't break, IE just treats them as plain textboxes.

It's always stuff like that.

 

[WizardHawk]

A lot of business/government sites are still built around the IE9 core. Some have activex which should just never be used.

 

[4down20]

I've never used activex. Never liked windows for that stuff, linux is much better in that type of environment.