Linux vs MacOS X

**btoneill** · January 14th, 2003, 04:27 PM

People have been saying for 10 years that a user friendly X11 interface is around the corner. I'm still waiting. Also saying Linux in this debate is kinda moot, as all the pretty GUI's in linux, kde, gnome, etc. all work the same on freebsd, solaris, hpux, aix, irix, etc. Will the GUI on linux at some point become user friendly, maybe, will they make the OS itself to install, manage, troubleshoot easy? Not unless the redesign the way the OS functions, and stop having people have to build their own kernels, but ofcourse that stuff is what alot of the Linux users love, they love to get under the hood, and will be pissed if that goes away to make it more user friendly. UNIX(Linux included) using X11 had their chance to make it in the desktop world, and they all repeatedly failed. They make great server OS's, and great specialty workstations, but the won't be a common desktop. KDE/Gnome is just the latest in a long line of "standards" that will unify the unix community to create a user friendly OS. CDE claimed the same thing, had a ton of money thrown at it, was adopted by most commerical unix vendors, and it failed, miserably.

Brian

**Giaguara** · January 14th, 2003, 04:32 PM

I haven't so much had time to try Debian but i guess I'll like it

What i know for sure is i didnt like mandrake at all and probably if i tried anything else i probably liked it more than RH ... i'm curious, i'll try any of them i'll have a change to try, but i'm not getting a pc for that. When I'll see Debian, any BSD, Suse etc I want to try ...

**d1taylor** · January 14th, 2003, 05:15 PM

I spend a lot of time running different flavors of Linux and Unix (I have a Sun Blade100 under my desk too) and while X11 + GNOME 2 + various GNU stuff makes for a pretty cool work environment, it still pales compared to the wonderful, tightly integrated, visually delightful experience of using Mac OS X.

I have been poking around on Unix systems since 1980, so my relationship with Unix goes way back (I contributed to BSD4.4 and used to hang out with Jordan Hubbard, among other BSDers). I've also been using Macs since 1985, and, honestly, one of the best days of my computing history was the day that Mac OS X was released, with the fabulous Macintosh user experience grafted atop a powerful and accessible Unix core.

To this day, I delight in being able to run PhotoShop, Microsoft Office, Safari, iTunes, etc., and still pop open a Terminal to hack on the system too!.

Just one opinion, YMMV, of course.

**Giaguara** · January 14th, 2003, 06:35 PM

d1taylor, cool ...

an odd note on linux: i have added some basics about linux to a site ... and looking on stats a LOT of people end there looking for e.g. "redhat ibook" "install redhat on xbox" "mandrake xbox" ...

**hazmat** · January 14th, 2003, 09:30 PM

d1taylor, well said. I also had a Sun Blade 100, as well has having run Linux since about '95, and using and adminning SunOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Linux. No desktop environment I have ever run on any of them could compare to Mac OS X. I hate X11 actually. Too much of a PITA for a desktop system.

Now if they could just lose NetInfo and go to flat files.....

**Koelling** · January 15th, 2003, 01:21 PM

I like X11 on mac. I will probably spend my life on commercial applications like photoshop but ever since x11.app came out, things like openoffice.org run very well. Linux makes you use only x11 and windows makes you use only commercial. We got the choice.

**wiz** · January 15th, 2003, 04:38 PM

what are u guys saying!!!.

i have redhat installed (the best thing about this distro its supported almost my all.)

i have winxp too. (i don't use it, except for games)

and yes osx. this os proved to be the most usefull of all.
for example: tryin to type documents on Linux, using OpenOffice, was a problem. The font anti-aliasing and rendering is bad. (OpenOffice is not very functional either, [it will be though]).

Burining CD's, playing mp3, surfing, etc, is best on osx.

OSX (Darwin) completely supports opensource projects. many apps have been ported to osx. this just makes macs as useful as linux.

Also amazing technical support is available for mac.

most of all, its hassle free, and easy-to-use.