PC, MAC, Meet Linux

[dejongj]

Sure I am a Mac user, also uses PC's...And yes I did think the digs from Jobbs to Microsoft were quite funny...I especially like the latest Easter Eggs in Leopard regarding the BSOD on Windows...

However this really made me laugh...Didn't think Novell had it in them

http://www.novell.com/linux/meetlinux/

[apolloa]

hahahaha,
Love those, just don't check out the many You Tube videos of Linux as they blow you away
I tried to run suse on my rig earlier in the year but it just failed to do so

[dejongj]

Must have a look on you tube then

I am actually installing Mandriva as we speak in a virtual machine. Got to do a presentation about a multi-tier environment and my good old little mac has got its OSX running with both XP and Linus VM's as well!

I do prefer the Mac hardware to be honest..

[rob_finch]

Search YouTube for beryl+linux, some amazing capabilities shown off. Makes Leopard's new spaces look a little flat! Some Expose style window tiling there as well.

I can honestly see Microsoft having to move away from Windows OS in future. With Web 2.0 (moving everything server side), Apple's increased global profile due to iPod, as well as open source OS & apps getting better than corporate produced equivalents, MS have serious competition now. With Google (search, mail, chat, docs & spreadsheet apps, maps, checkout,...) and Sun (Solaris and ZFS) partnering with Apple on projects, MS need to evolve. Consider the time, enormous expense (even for MS) and effort involved in developing Vista, it will be years before they will revamp or replace it. Linux will have moved on so far in that time. I hope Apple do too.

[apolloa]

I know what you mean Rob Finch, I have an Xbox 360 and love it, it's absolutly fantastic and the games MS have nailed for it are awesome. Yes it's unreliable but asside from that MS couldn't do it any more right especially in the business sense, yet when it comes to their OS's they are getting creamed by Linux and Mac IMO but so far that's only in the home really but I think this will change in the future.

[Ikki]

I have recently moved over to Linux (PCLinuxOS) and am not missing Windows one bit, plus I haven't had to pay out for a complete set of new MAC hardware just to run OS-X. The desktop effects are superb, Beryl was mentioned earlier and the soon to be released Compiz-Fusion promises much more. You have to be careful which distribution you install as they range from bleak bare bones do everything yourself uber geeks only distros through to distros that are as easy as XP to set up.

I would recommend PCLinuxOS or Simply Mepis for anyone wanting to try Linux out. They come as live CD's which run from boot but don't touch your HDD. If you are happy with them, you can do a full install from the CD, or set up a dual boot system. Even if you get rid of the Windows partition, it's dead easy to set up a virtual machine using VirtualBox which has access to shared folders, the Internet, USB, CD etc and runs with little performance defecit. I also like the BSD's, they real Unix and are rock solid and in the case of PC-BSD are on Windows levels of ease of use (Apple OS-X is really a BSD (Darwin) with a snazzy GUI).

Things will get interesting soon as SUN has open sourced Solaris and the ZFS filesystem, so new desktop distros are being worked on with a Solaris core/ZFS combo which is supposed to be much better than Linux core / EXT3 for example (I'm not too sure why though?).

[dejongj]

Good that it works out for you. I think a lot depends on ones personal situation. I know for a fact that I couldn't make the transition fully from Windows to Linux when working in a professional world. For example there are just no equivalents for MS Project that work on File exchange level, nor for Clarity....And then there is a things like exchange with Visio....

But most importantly, OpenOffice just does not provide full compatibility with MS-Office the defacto standard whether people like it or not. There are just too many formatting issues, not to mentioned automation of documents etc that does not work...

The OS-X which is just a BSD with a snazzy GUI can do all that exchange with the document world in a professional capacity....So maybe it is a bit more than a snazzy GUI, you tell me....

Also I think there is something that Apple has learned from Microsoft (or viceversa I don't care to much about chicken and egg theories) which the Linux/Unix community does not know yet is integration....Look at MS Office, many components independently can be improved or better versions found for, but as a consistent package that works together it is nearly impossible to beat....Same on OS-X iLife/iWork and then even the pro applications like Aperture all work together with stuff like the media browser providing seemless integration for a user....Now that is stuff that is worthwhile something and finally makes that promises from the 80's true that computers make things easier....

[Ikki]

Well, I didn't mean to upset anyone. I never suggested that you had to use Linux or that there was anything wrong with using Windows or OS-X.

Of course Linux won't fit all situations, just as OS-X won't or Windows won't. I use XP at work because that is what is set up on the network and I am not bothered in the slightest. You have to use what best fits your needs or what the environment dictates that you use.

[dejongj]

Originally Posted by Ikki

Well, I didn't mean to upset anyone. I never suggested that you had to use Linux or that there was anything wrong with using Windows or OS-X.

You didn't upset anyone in fact it is psychologically impossible to upset anyone else people can only cause an upset with themselves but that is a whole different conversation, just want to balance some facts and provide some background information before others jump that way or can think they can jump that way....