linux vs windows vs mac,who is the best?

[4ur0r]

It always depends on what you want to do with your machine. I don't even consider Apple.
Windows is good if you want to play videogames and for the office suite which is badly/poorly implemented in other sistems (again, I don't even consider Apple).
Linux is good for its nature of open source software, you can do pretty much everything but gaming. Don't even try to pull out the "Steam is making Linux games" card", because they are not so much and runs not as good as windows due to lack of officials drivers.
Personally I LOVE Linux (I run Ubuntu MATE on my main workstation). I just love being able to customize EVERYTHING on the UI and the terminal-part of the system is intriguing me since it makes some operations more easy than click-find-search with a mouse pointer.
Mac is overpriced. Sorry not sorry, but it is.
And don't try to pull out (sorry for the repetition) the "Mac runs graphics tools better" card, because it doesn't. And even if it does, with the same price you can buy a more powerful machine with Windows that can runs almost the same programs and do other stuffs that Mac cannot do (games). I like the portability of the Macbooks though. Heat absorption and the thinnes of Macbooks are something that every laptop-maker should study.

 

[Duo8]

Based on Ubuntu...

Same thing.
Oh and older as well.

 

[nastys]

Same thing.
Oh and older as well.

Elementary OS uses its own UI, which is a lot different from Ubuntu's Unity UI.

 

[Lacius]

All three operating systems are great.
I prefer Windows because it's what I'm familiar with and because of program compatibility.
Linux distros are great alternatives to Windows. One of my machines runs Ubuntu, but I rarely use it.
Mac OS X is a great operating system, but I consider Apple products to be overpriced when contrasted with comparable systems.

 

[Duo8]

Elementary OS uses its own UI, which is a lot different from Ubuntu's Unity UI.

Ubuntu GNOME/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu uses its own UI, which is a lot different from Ubuntu's Unity UI.

 

[nastys]

Ubuntu GNOME/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu uses its own UI, which is a lot different from Ubuntu's Unity UI.

...and they are all based on Ubuntu, but they are not Ubuntu.

 

[Duo8]

...and they are all based on Ubuntu, but they are not Ubuntu.

Ubuntu flavors with the DE swapped out. That's not enough to be considered another OS or even a distro.
But hey, free software. Do whatever you want, even calling people downloading your free distro cheaters.

 

[Lucifer666]

Mac OS X is incredibly unpopular on this site but I get it, we're gamers here

I got a Macbook back in 2013 and it's honestly changed my life. True, Steam is **** on it and there are a lot of games that aren't available on Mac, but practically as a tool I use to study, surf the web, write documents, emails, that sort of thing, it's unbeatable

and macbook don't have particularly the best specs ever but they are phenomenal at using what specs they do have to their maximum capacity. my macbook is a pro yet it only has crappy integrated graphics, in other words it technically doesnt even have a graphics card. i play minecraft on max graphix though at 60 fps

there is a lot of software that is windows-exclusive but more often than not you'll find a mac alternative. unless its something small someone made like a jailbreak/hack tool or whatever. for example emunand tool wasn't available on mac for a long time and i always had to borrow my ma's laptop to use it

one day when i have the money id like to build a gaming desktop (windows) and i'll use that whenever i need anything heavy that my mac cannot do. but that's not a lot. even though my mac is a 2012 model it holds up so incredibly well and i can realistically still see myself using it like 4 years down the line

 

[4ur0r]

Mac OS X is incredibly unpopular on this site but I get it, we're gamers here

I got a Macbook back in 2013 and it's honestly changed my life. True, Steam is **** on it and there are a lot of games that aren't available on Mac, but practically as a tool I use to study, surf the web, write documents, emails, that sort of thing, it's unbeatable

and macbook don't have particularly the best specs ever but they are phenomenal at using what specs they do have to their maximum capacity. my macbook is a pro yet it only has crappy integrated graphics, in other words it technically doesnt even have a graphics card. i play minecraft on max graphix though at 60 fps

there is a lot of software that is windows-exclusive but more often than not you'll find a mac alternative. unless its something small someone made like a jailbreak/hack tool or whatever. for example emunand tool wasn't available on mac for a long time and i always had to borrow my ma's laptop to use it

one day when i have the money id like to build a gaming desktop (windows) and i'll use that whenever i need anything heavy that my mac cannot do. but that's not a lot. even though my mac is a 2012 model it holds up so incredibly well and i can realistically still see myself using it like 4 years down the line

Actually, I understand you.
I hold a grudge against Apple since ever, but what you told is the truth.
Mac OS is a very good system (I forgot to mention it in my previous post) that takes everything it can from its components (not GPU's anyway). This and the ability of making the laptop not going overheat is what I actually envy of macbooks.

 

[Selim873]

As a gamer, definitely Windows 10. I really like Linux though, but I always go back to Windows for that reason. Wine takes so much effort to try to boot a game that you don't even know will work with it or not. Isn't worth it. I do like Mac as well, and have tried to turn my PC into a Hackintosh machine, that's what my machine was originally going to be, even though I'm using parts chosen from the site, I just ran into issues so I bought Windows.

 

[nastys]

Ubuntu flavors with the DE swapped out. That's not enough to be considered another OS or even a distro.
But hey, free software. Do whatever you want, even calling people downloading your free distro cheaters.

Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, etc... are flavours (or flavors), and they are officially recognised because they are fully integrated in the Ubuntu project and contribute significantly and directly towards the project (source).
Any distro based on Ubuntu, including flavours, is a derivative. They internally share the same software, so you don't need to create a package for Ubuntu, one for Kubuntu, etc...
But the operating system itself is different; even the preinstalled software may vary depending on the distro, so it's not 100% the same.
For example, you can't follow this tutorial on Kubuntu directly, because Kubuntu uses kate instead of gedit.

Derivatives that only add some software are called Remixes.

 

[FAST6191]

Windows is good if you want [snip] the office suite which is badly/poorly implemented in other sistems

What would be the shortcomings of libreoffice in your experience/opinion? I am unlikely to call it better than MS office but it gets things done that need to be done in my experience (and that of most of my clients).

Granted I am a big believer in moving to more dedicated software (20 page professional report -- that better be in something (la)tex based, does page down three times not bring you to the end of your spreadsheet table -- time for a database, do you have more than two pictures and a text box on your poster -- fire up scribus/indesign/something similar) so me and mine might miss out on some of the edge cases but the only times I really encounter resistance to it is when people/companies have not been weaned off outlook/exchange email.

 

[Duo8]

What would be the shortcomings of libreoffice in your experience/opinion? I am unlikely to call it better than MS office but it gets things done that need to be done in my experience (and that of most of my clients).

Granted I am a big believer in moving to more dedicated software (20 page professional report -- that better be in something (la)tex based, does page down three times not bring you to the end of your spreadsheet table -- time for a database, do you have more than two pictures and a text box on your poster -- fire up scribus/indesign/something similar) so me and mine might miss out on some of the edge cases but the only times I really encounter resistance to it is when people/companies have not been weaned off outlook/exchange email.

It's somewhat incompatible with the newer .*x format. I tried opening a pptx and it was pretty weird.
The UI wasn't the best either.

 

[nastys]

It's somewhat incompatible with the newer .*x format. I tried opening a pptx and it was pretty weird.

Because the documentation of that format sucks.

 

[4ur0r]

What would be the shortcomings of libreoffice in your experience/opinion? I am unlikely to call it better than MS office but it gets things done that need to be done in my experience (and that of most of my clients).

Granted I am a big believer in moving to more dedicated software (20 page professional report -- that better be in something (la)tex based, does page down three times not bring you to the end of your spreadsheet table -- time for a database, do you have more than two pictures and a text box on your poster -- fire up scribus/indesign/something similar) so me and mine might miss out on some of the edge cases but the only times I really encounter resistance to it is when people/companies have not been weaned off outlook/exchange email.

I am not very well english-educated, so I found your post a little hard to understand. I'll try to give an answer anyway.
The problem is me, not the LibreOffice suite. I never take enough time to learn and comprehend this free office suite. The thing that I particularly don't like is the interface: since Office 2007, the new ribbon ui become the standard on the office suite, but LibreOffice (once OpenOffice iirc) never caught the occasion to refresh its ui, which seems to me, horrible and anti-functional with too many buttons and no tabs to switch.
Nothing much to say about LibreOffice Write, docx is not entirely supported but it's not a big deal, but Calc is another thing.
Many functions that are available on the Office suite are not on LibreOffice, enough said. Also, as I mentioned before xlsx are pretty broken, and it's no-good for a calculus-sheet.
I don't use Impress, I used to make databases with Office, but not anymore.

 

[nastys]

I am not very well english-educated, so I found your post a little hard to understand. I'll try to give an answer anyway.
The problem is me, not the LibreOffice suite. I never take enough time to learn and comprehend this free office suite. The thing that I particularly don't like is the interface: since Office 2007, the new ribbon ui become the standard on the office suite, but LibreOffice (once OpenOffice iirc) never caught the occasion to refresh its ui, which seems to me, horrible and anti-functional with too many buttons and no tabs to switch.
Nothing much to say about LibreOffice Write, docx is not entirely supported but it's not a big deal, but Calc is another thing.
Many functions that are available on the Office suite are not on LibreOffice, enough said. Also, as I mentioned before xlsx are pretty broken, and it's no-good for a calculus-sheet.
I don't use Impress, I used to make databases with Office, but not anymore.

Luckily Office 2007 and 2010 work perfectly under Wine/PlayOnLinux, if needed.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Mac OS X is incredibly unpopular on this site but I get it, we're gamers here

I got a Macbook back in 2013 and it's honestly changed my life. True, Steam is **** on it and there are a lot of games that aren't available on Mac, but practically as a tool I use to study, surf the web, write documents, emails, that sort of thing, it's unbeatable

and macbook don't have particularly the best specs ever but they are phenomenal at using what specs they do have to their maximum capacity. my macbook is a pro yet it only has crappy integrated graphics, in other words it technically doesnt even have a graphics card. i play minecraft on max graphix though at 60 fps

there is a lot of software that is windows-exclusive but more often than not you'll find a mac alternative. unless its something small someone made like a jailbreak/hack tool or whatever. for example emunand tool wasn't available on mac for a long time and i always had to borrow my ma's laptop to use it

one day when i have the money id like to build a gaming desktop (windows) and i'll use that whenever i need anything heavy that my mac cannot do. but that's not a lot. even though my mac is a 2012 model it holds up so incredibly well and i can realistically still see myself using it like 4 years down the line

I have nothing against Mac, hell they're what musicians prefer to use than Windows (Linux is not even considered). But for myself? I've used Mac in the past but didn't like how it functioned or unable to use apps I use daily on Windows.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind going back to Ubuntu/Elementary OS but Windows 10 is excellent as is for me.

 

[4ur0r]

I have nothing against Mac, hell they're what musicians prefer to use than Windows (Linux is not even considered). But for myself? I've used Mac in the past but didn't like how it functioned or unable to use apps I use daily on Windows.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind going back to Ubuntu/Elementary OS but Windows 10 is excellent as is for me.

That's exactly why people tend to not even try Linux.
I'm displeased to say that Linux hasn't a software for everything the other systems do, but it is true. Sometimes with Linux you have to adapt or write yourself the software you need, which isn't very user-accessible. Dunno about Mac but it seems the software park goes like this: Windows > Mac >= Linux

 

[sarkwalvein]

I really don't like Windows but I use it all the time because of games and BS soft that requires windows.
As far as the OS goes, it looks not nice to me, it lacks a lot of tools, I don't like the filesystem idea, meh, leave me with Unix based systems.
That said, I don't like MacOS that much, but at least I'm more comfortable with the Unix like tools and usage, and if you Brew your way around it feels a little like Linux.
I just prefer Linux based systems, but many windows based games and BS software doesn't run so well on it (through wine).
At the end of the day I still must use windows.

 

[yodamerlin]

Windows OS

Windows 10 - If you want to be spied on whilst playing games.
Windows 9 - If you don't exist too.
Windows 8.1 - If you like it... I guess... With it's "familiar" and "easy to use" interface...
Windows 8 - If you don't have internet...
Windows 7 - If you hate support.
Windows Vista - If you hate yourself.
Windows XP - If you REALLY hate support.
Windows 2000 - If you want to look like you come from the future.
Windows 98 - The operating system I still have...
Windows ME - The one I had in a foreign language.
MS-DOS - Windows still uses it. And it's crap.

Mac

I have no idea about Mac. It's based of Unix though.

Linux

But Linux. It's good. But not good for gaming? Makes sense, because my gaming computer runs Linux, and I play all the games I want to play, natively.
Also, a usable shell, and also, no terminal required interface. Learning Linux is a thing of the past. Seriously, it has a UI.
Security fixed very fast, has big companies behind it, lots of people too.