Mac/Windows/Linux?

[AndrewOW]

Hasn't there just?

 

 

Thanks for all the opinions on this one though - I'll do some more research.

 

 

If you're going into print and publishing, then you can't beat the MacOS IMO. Support is enormous and if you aren't using it, you won't be taken seriously

 

Windoze may be a tool, but after using both, its a horrible cluttered workspace, and I couldn't imagine using it for anything creative.

 

Once you've had a go on a Mac you'll realise how effortless everything is, and how seamless it all works together. Plus it looks fabulous and it just works.

 

My girlfriend has a Vista laptop, and for all the 'prettyness' it tries to show, she's always cursing it! Whereas I'm as cool as a cucumber.

[imi]

Thing is, Pete put me onto VM Fusion and other VM machines, which unlike the traditional virtual machines actually integrates the application on to your desktop which makes general useability very nice.

 

absolutely, thats the way around the lack of specialist app support in mac.

 

I havent gotten round to setting that up myself - dont particularly need to

 

I still have my windows laptop for that stuff. Spend most of my time using the MAC though.....

[Charlotte]

My girlfriend has a Vista laptop, and for all the 'prettyness' it tries to show, she's always cursing it! Whereas I'm as cool as a cucumber.

 

It's not pretty - well apart from pretty cr*p!

 

I think it's one of the worst operating system ever in the world ever.

 

Soooo frustrating.

[AndrewOW]

It's not pretty - well apart from pretty cr*p!

 

I think it's one of the worst operating system ever in the world ever.

 

Soooo frustrating.

 

 

MacOS wannabes. Must try harder. Much harder!

[Gaz6002]

 

My girlfriend has a Vista laptop, and for all the 'prettyness' it tries to show, she's always cursing it! Whereas I'm as cool as a cucumber.

 

It's not pretty - well apart from pretty cr*p!

 

I think it's one of the worst operating system ever in the world ever.

 

Soooo frustrating.

 

I should have mentioned, it WILL NOT be Vista, whatever I choose. It's going to be XP SP2 if I go with Microsoft. Vista is, as you both say, far too annoying

[RedM]

Where do I fit in the scheme of things then? I'm not in IT so an OS is not a tool for me but I don't see my choice as a status symbol so I'm not a geek. I think!

 

I'd love a Mac. The OS is great and yes it is pretty but I also love the aesthetics of the Macs. They're like works of art.

 

However, as I'm only the 437,375,857 richest person in the world I can't afford one. I took a risk on a (relatively) little used OS partly as it was free and partly as it was touted as more secure and stable than Windows.

[Charlotte]

You're a geek Martin, plain and simple.

[RedM]

You're a geek Martin, plain and simple.

 

As I can't do it for real, have an honorary infraction.

[AndrewOW]

What you need is a Hackintosh from Pete, and hopefully with a lifetime free support contract from him too

 

Either that or a secondhand iMac, or MacBook Pro, as they will still be working and looking great well after their 'use by dates'.

 

The Macs I'm using at work here are 7 and 8 years old (MacOS 8.6 & 9), respectively, and except for the demands of newer browsers online, they are still working perfectly. The newer one is the 'dreaded' cube too!

 

They hardly ever go wrong, which is usually solved with a simple restart etc.

 

I'd like to see any Windoze pc still working properly after a couple of years without being tinkered with somewhat.

 

Anyway, the choice is yours and I hope you get what you think is the right 'tool' for the job. Unfortunately I am a little biased from being a Mac lover for over 18 years!

[caseys]

Hey Gaz,

 

I'd agree with most of RedM's points there on OS. Linux is good, Ubuntu a good varient. Unix is if you've truly got a lot of time on your hands. Yellow Dog linux on a PS3 is interesting..

 

If you're going with Print and Publication though i would go for OSX, it's good and I've been using it for about 9 years, about 5 years at home. You could buy yourself a macbook pro or a nice mac pro and dual boot it and have a variety of OS on the machine depending on what you want it for. That and if your publication is using a lot of photography the multi-threaded version of Photoshop coming out as well as Aperture is good for raw file manipulation. New features like Time Machine in Leopard are good for handling your backups, especially if you're a small business it's mind boggling how many people aren't prepared for data-loss..

 

Also Apple do know how to design sexy hardware. The engineering in a mac-pro is top notch. The 30' displays are nice but other vendors do better value for money models.

 

The OS I have the most admiration for tho are OS/400 and AIX, but they're not really ones you can use on a desktop but damn they're stable and scalable.

[caseys]

Where do I fit in the scheme of things then? I'm not in IT so an OS is not a tool for me but I don't see my choice as a status symbol so I'm not a geek. I think!

 

I'd love a Mac. The OS is great and yes it is pretty but I also love the aesthetics of the Macs. They're like works of art.

 

However, as I'm only the 437,375,857 richest person in the world I can't afford one. I took a risk on a (relatively) little used OS partly as it was free and partly as it was touted as more secure and stable than Windows.

 

Shame I just sold a 12' powerbook for £100...

 

And as for relatively little used OS for security I think the 'security thru obscurity' thang is fading... more malware and viruses expected for OSX and I'm sure some flavours of linux will be popping up more. Alas some using OSX and Linux think they're safe so don't worry about firewalls, proxies or decent AV software or ways to avoid being exploited

[Gaz6002]

Hey Gaz,

 

I'd agree with most of RedM's points there on OS. Linux is good, Ubuntu a good varient. Unix is if you've truly got a lot of time on your hands. Yellow Dog linux on a PS3 is interesting..

 

If you're going with Print and Publication though i would go for OSX, it's good and I've been using it for about 9 years, about 5 years at home. You could buy yourself a macbook pro or a nice mac pro and dual boot it and have a variety of OS on the machine depending on what you want it for. That and if your publication is using a lot of photography the multi-threaded version of Photoshop coming out as well as Aperture is good for raw file manipulation. New features like Time Machine in Leopard are good for handling your backups, especially if you're a small business it's mind boggling how many people aren't prepared for data-loss..

 

Also Apple do know how to design sexy hardware. The engineering in a mac-pro is top notch. The 30' displays are nice but other vendors do better value for money models.

 

The OS I have the most admiration for tho are OS/400 and AIX, but they're not really ones you can use on a desktop but damn they're stable and scalable.

 

Thanks mate - that's very helpful

[chilli]

there's simply no answer for this - really depends what you're doing and your knowledge (and patience sometimes!)

 

In terms of absolute server scalability, performance and robustness for me it's got to be:

 

Unix (e.g. Solaris / OpenSolaris)

Linux (e.g. Centos)

Windows / Mac

 

and VMS would score high if it was still around in anger!

 

whereas from a usability / desktop user point of view it's more like

 

Mac

Windows

Linux

Unix

 

but, things like OpenSolaris as rapidly catching the mainstream Linux in terms of usability now, but with much more power / scalability to boot.

 

I booted and installed of the latest OpenSolaris 200805 live cd and got everything installed pretty much like I was installing Windows or one of the better linux distro's

 

It's not going to compete with Windows when it comes to drivers and sound/multimedia support - then again little does, that's one thing M$ really got right amongst a bunch of things they didn't!

 

PS: If you can't decide what to use/learn - then get a half decent machine, install a flavour of Linux as host and VMWare server 2 and then download and install a bunch of different OSes and try them - at the end of the day it's free and if you don't get on, you've lost nothing and can just delete it.

 

This works for everything except MAC (propriety system which is its strength but also its downside) - works with Windows you just need to pay for the appropriate licenses - everything else is free leaving more money to spend on the supra - woot!

[Pete]

For a geek an OS is a status symbol, for an IT person it is a tool, nothing more

That's odd to say an OS is a status symbol, I can't figure that one out. I've sold £3000 PCs with Windows on and built a £250 Mac compatible PC. I have servers that cost far more running UNIX style.

[Gaz6002]

there's simply no answer for this - really depends what you're doing and your knowledge (and patience sometimes!)

 

Lets say I'm from a background where SAP is the system of choice.

 

I'm going into something publishing/production wise.

[chilli]

Lets say I'm from a background where SAP is the system of choice.

 

I'm going into something publishing/production wise.

 

SAP - blergh, my condolences - sounds like you're moving in the right direction

 

publishing and production is definitely one of the Mac strong points

 

the only thing that really bugs me about mac is you need propriety mac hardware to run it, whereas everything else (linux, windows, unix) can be run on a regular (and cost effective PC).

 

If you want a good hardcore real-time OS, QNX is good - but you won't get much work done on that lol

[Pot]

I've always been a Windows person myself, even bought the upgrade to Vista Ultimate (£210) out of my own pocket so I could get ahead of the rest as I know my company's in the process of testing it for our desktops...

 

But I got fed up with it on my PC (3ghz processor, 3gb RAM, Nvidia 9600GT GFX, Creative Xtreme Gamer Soundcard,2.25TB of hard drive space), with all of the crashing and pissing about...

 

So, tonight, I've installed Ubuntu, and ditched Vista, sounds sort of drastic, but at work although our laptops are on XP, I'm mainly in putty sessions on unix/linux boxes, so I do have some insight into what's going on, but with the X Interface, I'm a complete n00b... I'm liking it so far, had a dabble last week previous to my home setup, as I installed Ubuntu onto a spare PC at work and have the 'cube' automatically rotating every 25 seconds with different monitoring systems on each face on a 46" screen, the office was impressed

 

All I'm stuck on at the moment is getting it to work with my 9600

[DJButler]

SAP - blergh, my condolences - sounds like you're moving in the right direction

 

publishing and production is definitely one of the Mac strong points

 

the only thing that really bugs me about mac is you need propriety mac hardware to run it, whereas everything else (linux, windows, unix) can be run on a regular (and cost effective PC).

 

If you want a good hardcore real-time OS, QNX is good - but you won't get much work done on that lol

 

S.A.P. = Stops All Progress

[RedM]

 

All I'm stuck on at the moment is getting it to work with my 9600

 

You've tried the restricted drivers option, I presume?

 

How did you set the cube to auto-rotate? I can't find an option for that.