Greater Computer Evil: Apple vs. Microsoft vs. Open Source

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I am getting all geeked out on computers lately, so I figured I would post this poll to get some opinions on who you hate the most in the computing world. Apple and/or it's users, Microsoft and/or it's users, or Open Source geeks who use Linux, freeware, etc. and or their users?

 

[Phoenyx]

Microsoft all the way. They are the 'Big Evil' of the computer world. With their over priced software that usually isn't even fully functional at the time they release it.

Apple is the best way to go, but it costs more. And there is a reason for it. Everything Apple releases is fully tested and guaranteed to work. Unlike Microsoft crap that usually take up to a year, and after a dozen patches to work properly.

So many people are frustrated with Microsoft. That's why there are so many viruses. Literally millions of PC based viruses, and how many Apple viruses have you heard of? And most of these viruses are made by people who just hate Microsoft. They put all these viruses out in hopes that people will quit buying their crap and buy something else.

I can't say much about Linux, yet. I just haven't had the time to try it out yet. But I have an old system that I'm planning to run Linux on and to learn with.

 

[pokertramp]

So many people are frustrated with Microsoft. That's why there are so many viruses. Literally millions of PC based viruses, and how many Apple viruses have you heard of? And most of these viruses are made by people who just hate Microsoft. They put all these viruses out in hopes that people will quit buying their crap and buy something else.

Funny you mention that because I have only heard of one virus for Apple™ computers and that was just recently. I always thought they where pretty much virus proof.

 

[GP403]

I ditched the MS herd and went Linux a long time ago. I haven't used Windows on my personal computers in like 7 years, and have been playing with Linux since about '95 (installing from 20+ floppies was fun )

If you're willing to learn something slightly different, then go for it. If you're one of those folks who sits down in front of a computer and your IQ drops 30 points (you know the type) then its not for you. You won't be able to play all the games and yeah some stuff is still not there but I haven't missed it. There are open source/free alternatives to most things, which work nearly as well.

Contrary to popular belief you don't need a PhD in computer science to get along with it, just a willingness to learn a few things differently.

Go Ubuntu. After spending years building and breaking Gentoo (everything's compiled from source code) systems I finally wanted to start using it rather than tinkering.... You can even spin the livecd to give it a try before you install it. Back up all your data if you do, just in case....

Check out this essay, especially the first part with the car dealers... I think everyone can relate to that. It's a few years old, but still pretty relevant.

http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/in_the_ ... mand_line/

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

As for me, I use a PC running Vista, but my next computer will run Linux. Apple's too pretentious for my taste. Their machines do work well, I will give them that, but many of it's users tend to be Mac Snobs who think everything Steve Jobs sh*ts out his *ss is gold and anything else is crap. I am NOT talking about every Mac user, it's just a general perception. Mac's also seem to limit the kinds of changes you can do to them as compared to PC's running x86 or similar architecture. Windows works OK most of the time, but it can be a PITA. Like Apple, MS seems to limit user options as to what to do, but still has more configuration options. This is a good idea for most users though as it keeps them from getting into too much trouble. MS also seems to think it's sh*t doesn't stink and charges way too much for any non-oe distribution of it's products. I riced out Office 2007 home and student at $150. At that price I didn't buy it and downloaded Open Office instead. Works pretty good, runs the Office file extensions and can't argue with free. I have Vista and like it in some ways, hate it in others. After 80 patches it seems to be stable, but when I did my reinstall a few weeks back I did notice some stability problems. As for Linux, I haven't tried it yet, but have an old computer I plan on installing it on. The big issue with Linux is most of the distributions are not easy to use, or even download for the casual user who gets lost in the Windows Control Panel. Ubuntu seems to be the one to use (I have the live CD for it), but it won't run this old Windows 98 machine I have for the experiment, or at least I don't think it will work with only 128mb of RAM and a sub-1Ghz Pentium II processor. Plus, the video drivers are screwed up in it, so I can't read the screen easily, so double booting it is out of the question. The bad thing is that I can't figure out how to download and install the more basic distributions as I am not geek enough to know how from what the sites have posted.