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[broadstairs]

I had an interesting discussion with a friend on Saturday. He was considering his next move for updating his PC. He said that he was seriously considering a Mac even at the price premium because he was very dissatisfied with his experiences on Windows with viruses etc and asked my opinion.

We had quite a lengthy discussion and I think I've encouraged him to look at new non-Mac hardware and to look at Linux rather than Windows. It turns out his main reason for going the Mac route was all to do with hardware speed and software security not for productivity like music graphics or video work. Time will tell but at least he said he will test out things like LibreOffice (on his existing XP system) to make sure it can handle all his documents etc, and will try a DVD bootable Linux system to see how he likes the desktop (I did explain it will boot a bit slowly and not run quite as fast off a DVD) - I suggested a KDE desktop version which is likely to be more familiar to a Windows user. I also explained how the Linux permissions system works which significantly improves its security and prevents accidental bad things being done by both rogue software and silly users.

I did explain that in all my time using Windows system in the past the only time I got a virus was when I trusted what a friend gave me on a memory stick - you only ever do that once. However he has had quite a few issues with Windows.

I am interested in what others may have said about this, I know I am a bit of a Linux advocate these days. I just wanted to open his eyes to the alternatives.

Stuart

[roseway]

Having escaped from Windows a dozen years ago in favour of Linux, you won't be surprised by what my opinion is. In truth, I can't make any comparison between them now, because the last Windows version I owned was Windows 2000. What I can say is that my Linux years have been hassle-free, apart from those occasions when I was a bit careless in my choice of hardware.

[Berrick]

I think it comes down to what you need to do with the hardware you are buying and how technical you are.

Windows for sheer volume of hardware and software available to users and something for users of all abilities to get stuck in to, IE desktop customization.

Unix or one of its flavours if you want to do really cool stuff like freenas, asterisk and pfsense for next to nothing and your more technical.

Even Macs are prone to viruses. The more popular they become the more incentive and a challenge for people to target them.

[Black Sheep]

I use my PC to probably 10% of its true capacity. In other words, just the basic functions. But, as regulars on here will know, I swopped from Vista to an i-Mac a while ago and I can't fault it in any way at all.
My whole life seemed to revolve around 'Updates', and waiting for things to load as the thing got wearier every day !! I like to think I did as much 'Housekeeping' as possible with it as well, but enough was enough.

I purchased an i-Mac for me, and an i-Pad for the missus (She needs to know that I am the boss  ), and especially with the advent of FTTC, I really am in love with the product. As well as sound and picture supremacy over my old one (love my music), the noise of the towers cooling fan is a thing of the past. No more letters from the 'Noise abatement society' for me !! 

I said to my wife at the time of looking into buying a Mac, and trying to justify the cost, that I do (sadly) spend a lot of time at the Desktop and IMO I feel it was well worth the extra cash spent.

I tend to find a lot of folk are anti-Mac, whether that's due to the pricing structure playing a part, I don't know. But as someone who just wants to be able to use a PC with no fuss, no bother, no damned 'Updates', and who really has no idea whether its quad-processor or running on recycled fat, I've found my own road-tests to come down on the side of Mac every time.

[neilius]

I work with Macs, primarily for audio/music production. We have 80 of them at our facility and they are pretty decent to manage over a network, easy to remote control, deploy software to, run various commands on (they are Unix, well BSD, under the bonnet after all). Cost isn't a factor as it isn't me spending the money  . They do their job very well and are well used within the pro audio world - pretty much any piece of pro audio hardware supports OS X. In my experience they are very stable - I have recorded multi-track sessions over 5 hours long without trouble. They don't require much in terms of looking after, and when they do, it's usually straightforward. Very easy to clone an install of OS X etc as well.

At home I'm a Linux user - its on the kids' laptops, 3 of them, and my wife and I us Android tablets for pretty much everything. Easy to keep them up to date with apt-get over SSH. No need to go into their rooms individually, I just ask them to switch their computers on and off I go. Safer generally with regards to malware etc and if you do something which causes issues, it usually only affects your home area and not the core system. Apart from games, I can't really think of anything you can't do on a Linux machine nowadays.

I don't miss reinstalls, defrags, scandisks and general cleaning up that constantly had to be done with Windows machines. It's nice to actually be able to just do stuff with a computer that doesn't involve constantly maintaining it!

[kitz]

It honestly doesnt matter to me which OS someone chooses because i think they all come into their own in various degrees.

I guess I really must be lucky because since XP/Win7 I honestly dont ever have an issue with things like defrags/scandisks/cleaning up.   But then again this is my PC and no-one else goes near to muck it up.  I also brought my daughter up to be internet savy enough not to do anything stupid.
I find abode/java updates more annoying that the windows ones, because it always seems to be at an inopportune time.

Years ago I used to spend an awful lot of time cleaning up others PCs (still do the odd one), but those mistakes where usually down to user error or lack of proper security software etc.   TBH that type of user either wouldnt have the ability to use the likes of linux or they'd be daft enough to muck things up no matter what the o/s

[Black Sheep]

On a side note very quickly, I've just 'Googled' the word 'Linux' and didn't realise their mascot was 'Tux the penguin' !! Is that why Eric has a penguin as his avatar ?? 

[broadstairs]

Thanks for all the views. I think I probably went as far as was reasonable in getting this guy to at least take a look at the various options.

I am certainly not anti Mac although I never owned one I did run the old Mac software on an Amiga using an emulator and quite liked it as an OS, what puts me off the Mac is price and being locked in so much. I do hate I-anything mainly because it is viewed as a status symbol by so many, my sister-in-law really bugs me when she keep harping on about her wretched I-Pad and using it as a camera I find particularly silly. Anyway I am not anti Windows per se just that I find Linux so much easier and flexible, yes you need to be cautious when buying hardware but much these days works with anything. The bootable DVD images for Linux which can easily be installed onto a hard drive give you pretty much a working system for most people to use these days.

I shall see this guy in about a week so will find out then which way he deiceds to go...

Stuart

[tickmike]

On a side note very quickly, I've just 'Googled' the word 'Linux' and didn't realise their mascot was 'Tux the penguin' !! Is that why Eric has a penguin as his avatar ??

Do not forget Me 

---------------
@Broadstairs
I would do a few Linux DVD's for your friend and go to see him, show he how he can run a 'Live CD' (or DVD) and then offer to install on his hard drive and let him play  he will soon like it, then he will get hooked on Linux.

[roseway]

Is that why Eric has a penguin as his avatar ??

Of course it is.

[burakkucat]

On a pedantic note, Linux is actually an operating system kernel and not an operating system! 

[Black Sheep]

Whoops, sorry tickmike ..... 

Thank you, Eric. I genuinely had no idea about the penguin link, I wondered if you were a big Pingu fan ??