The Best Operating System

[qwijibow 0]

The best OS in the world will eventually be linux. EVENTUALLY. Not now. At some point, enough work will have been done to allow the user interface of linux to catch up to windows or mac.

Linux is Just a kernel, and doesnt include a user interface. the most Popular Interface KDE is actually *nix Desktop environment.

Anyways...
comparing KDE to Windows and OSX i think KDE is easyer, this is just an opinion.

What does the Windows User interface do that KDE doesnt ?
both point and click... both have a control center for selcting screen savers, screen resolution, background image..

as far as i can tell, KDE does everything WIndows Desktop does, and more.
Audio Ripping using the file manager konqueror, optional preview on image, audio and movie files.
an encrypt with GnuPG feature.

multiple virtual desktops...

i personally dont see how KDE could possibly be any easyer.

[hashbang 0]

Hey All,
check out the latest windows and linux study:

TCO study: Linux wins again
By Sam Varghese
December 13, 2004

linux/windows study
URL: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

cheers
hashbang

[qwijibow 0]

Last time Windows won the TCO test, we all laughed... DUDE, its a test funded and published by MS... how many MS funded test dare to tell bill he sucked ? and out of al those who told bill he sucked, how many did bill publish... none... if they even exist.. who knows...anyways.... I believe that Linux has a lower TCO... however,after smiting dwn the windows winning test for being funded by MS, by principal you HAVE to critisize this test for beiing done by an Open Source company.when will there be a TCO test done by a totally unbiased source ???? like my little sister

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

Yes, Linux is 'just the kernal', but thats not how most people talk about 'linux'. When people mention linux they mean the whole deal, the kernal+xfree86/x.org and some windows manager like KDE or Gnome. That together is what is usually meant when a person casually mentions 'Linux'. Which is what I did. That being said, the things that make KDE/Linux/etc 'hard' are dealing with things that don't work perfectly the first time. Sometimes, when you plug something in, if you have a nice distro then linux detects it and everything works just fine. When this doesn't happen, things can get irritating, such as messing with config files. In terms of KDE, I remember installing KDE on my laptop and having it show the screen a few pixels to the right, so that the right edge of teh screen was gone. At the time(this may have changed, this was a few years ago), there was no simple option to adjust the screen image a few pixels left to fix the problem without doing some low level config hacking. I never ended up bothering, too much work to get something simple to happen. Other things are basic HCI issues. I remember the options/preferences/settings(whatever its called) in KDE was terribly organized, making it hard to find or do what I wanted. Using RPM's to install programs works, but was less intuitive, or at least less familiar than the windows installer type method or the OSX 'Drag the icon to the applications folder and its installed' method. This is even more true when something goes wrong with an RPM. Apt-get is nicer, but isn't on a number of major distros.Finally, on a personal preference level, I think KDE is ugly. I haven't played with KDE 3 though, so that may have changed. Granted, Windows is almost as ugly, but thats not a nice comparison.

[Darren1405241470 0]

I do still use Windows XP for it's easiness to use and my laziness to change to another OS. I did vote for Linux though because I know that it's a much more stable and secure OS than Windows will ever be.

[shaldengeki1405241473 0]

If only for the compatibility, I'd vote Windows. I admit that it can be a bit unstable and vulnerable at times, but that's what you pay for having one OS that a majority of the population uses. I'd rather exercise caution and increase security on my computer than not be able to interact with a large portion of the gamin-I mean, computing community. >_>

[cryptwizard 0]

actually, your horrably wrong....

windows is 1) not campatable with anything 2) a nightmare to program !!!

 

first off, take a program sice as KDE. its a whole destop environment, grap the source code and compile it... compile it on FreeBSD, compile it on Linux, compile it on OpenBSD, solaris, whatever !... the same source code will compile on all these different operating systems,a nd work...

 

however with windows, nope, it will not compile. nor will windows source code compile on any other OS.

 

Plus,, has anyone ever tried compiling and using a DLL in windows... its a nightmare, in linux, its as simple as turning the "share" switch on when compiling, to make an .so (shared object)

 

SECONDLY....

and here's what annoys the CRUD out of me...

 

last time i tried to compile the following code in VC++, it failed with an error like "error variable array length"

 

int number = GetStrLen("hello world");char *StrArray = new char[number+1];

that code is perfectly legal c++.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, the C++ part really pisses me off.

Try compiling it with GNU's g++.

Ultimately prove that GNU is better than Microsoft!

 

Yes, Linux is 'just the kernal', but thats not how most people talk about 'linux'.  When people mention linux they mean the whole deal, the kernal+xfree86/x.org and some windows manager like KDE or Gnome.  That together is what is usually meant when a person casually mentions 'Linux'.  Which is what I did. 

 

That being said, the things that make KDE/Linux/etc 'hard' are dealing with things that don't work perfectly the first time.  Sometimes, when you plug something in, if you have a nice distro then linux detects it and everything works just fine. When this doesn't happen, things can get irritating, such as messing with config files.  In terms of KDE, I remember installing KDE on my laptop and having it show the screen a few pixels to the right, so that the right edge of teh screen was gone.  At the time(this may have changed, this was a few years ago), there was no simple option to adjust the screen image a few pixels left to fix the problem without doing some low level config hacking.  I never ended up bothering, too much work to get something simple to happen. 

 

Other things are basic HCI issues.  I remember the options/preferences/settings(whatever its called) in KDE was terribly organized, making it hard to find or do what I wanted. 

 

Using RPM's to install programs works, but was less intuitive, or at least less familiar than the windows installer type method or the OSX 'Drag the icon to the applications folder and its installed' method.  This is even more true when something goes wrong with an RPM.  Apt-get is nicer, but isn't on a number of major distros.

 

Finally, on a personal preference level, I think KDE is ugly.  I haven't played with KDE 3 though, so that may have changed.  Granted, Windows is almost as ugly, but thats not a nice comparison.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can't strees the kernel part enough.

The correct name is GNU/Linux.

KDE is much nicer now.

Try the Plastik theme.

[Nathan1405241474 0]

I think that Knoppix, is pretty reliable, I haven't tried anything else but the Windows series besides Knoppix, but I still use Windows XP, as my modem, doesn't support Linux, and, I sometimes have to do things on Win XP, but I've got to admit that XPSP2, is pretty good, and XP has improved greatly

[qwijibow 0]

I'd rather exercise caution and increase security on my computer than not be able to interact with a large portion of the gamin-I mean, computing community. >_>

Whats exciting about Linux, is its up and comming.. its becomming more accepted on desktop, and more games are being ported to linux. some games even ship with a linux installer, which was unheared of last year.

ive been using linux for years, but every now and again, i stumble across something i never knew linux could to , for example with the masaic kernel, you have have some computers on your LAN (anywhere between 2 and 1000) and they all act as one cluster computer...

Log in to any machine anywhere, and if you use all the CPU power, then the other machines on the lan start lending you CPU power.

this isnt just distributed computing like SETI at home... the other machines DONT EVEN have to have the same software installed to boos the computer power.

more and more and more people are setting up LAN's at home..

since most of the time your CPU power is under 5% the computers shareing this make every PC so much more powerfull, even if someone is using every computer.

how many years will it be before windows can do this ?

oops.. im way of topic.. i was going to make the point about how 80% of gamers have a playstaion2 for the gaming comunity... and 64% of all statistics are made up on the spot...

ohh well..

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

I can't strees the kernel part enough.The correct name is GNU/Linux.
KDE is much nicer now.
Try the Plastik theme.

Perhaps I will. However, I refuse to refer to linux as GNU/linux. Because thats just idiotic. The spirit of open source software is contribution and bug fixes by everyone. I am taking this to the name as well. I am fixing the bug named "GNU/", because its annoying and serves no purpose.

[qwijibow 0]

whats so wrong with the name "GNU/Linux" ?

its an Operating system built from GNU libraries and compilers, and it runs on a kernel called Linux.

ive heared arguments that it should be called "Linux/GNU" but its nothing to worry about.

http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html

[Kyrstally 0]

There is not better OS. 

Best OS is that which enables you to do than you want.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly. Its more like whic OS do you prefer. I like Win XP. The GUI is nice and customizable. Also I can hack the registry to make it work the way I want it to with ease

[qwijibow 0]

Exactly. Its more like whic OS do you prefer. I like Win XP. The GUI is nice and customizable. Also I can hack the registry to make it work the way I want it to with ease

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i disagree....

 

i believe how good an OS is can be measured by factors like...

 

the amount of time it takes a user to perform a common task,

how efficiantly the OS uses the hardware,

how often a user is inconvinienced by the OS.. for example, Virii, and disk defragmenting and spyware in windows, and how servere the inconvininces are.

 

You say you like XP because you can tweak the registry to make it run the way you want.. ?

Other operating systems have that and more, Most modern Operating systems will allow you to tweak souce code, alter compile optimisations, and change what libraries what programs are compiled againsed, givingan unlimited amount of customisability.

 

MS windows wins on tests like having more native commercial games.

OpenBSD has achieved GODLIKE status on securety, and will NEVER be beaten.

NetBSD is INSANELY portable... no other OS will be as portable ever !

Linux is an excelent middleground...

 

ulike OpenBSD it cant claim almost 10 years since the last bug was discovered, but it is very very secure.

its game support is getting alot better,

ive been running linux for 3 yeears... its as fast now as the first day it was installed, disk fragmentation is less than 1%, ive never got any virii, or spyware or adware, never had to re-install... no virus scanners, no nothing. install once, zero maintenance.

[Kyrstally 0]

i disagree....

 

i believe how good an OS is can be measured by factors like...

 

the amount of time it takes a user to perform a common task,

how efficiantly the OS uses the hardware,

how often a user is inconvinienced by the OS.. for example, Virii, and disk defragmenting and spyware in windows, and how servere the inconvininces are.

 

You say you like XP because you can tweak the registry to make it run the way you want.. ?

Other operating systems have that and more, Most modern Operating systems will allow you to tweak souce code, alter compile optimisations, and change what libraries what programs are compiled againsed, givingan unlimited amount of customisability.

 

MS windows wins on tests like having more native commercial games.

OpenBSD has achieved GODLIKE status on securety, and will NEVER be beaten.

NetBSD is INSANELY portable... no other OS will be as portable ever !

Linux is an excelent middleground...

 

ulike OpenBSD it cant claim almost 10 years since the last bug was discovered, but it is very very secure.

its game support is getting alot better,

ive been running linux for 3 yeears... its as fast now as the first day it was installed, disk fragmentation is less than 1%, ive never got any virii, or spyware or adware, never had to re-install... no virus scanners, no nothing. install once, zero maintenance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

True, but it also depends on what you do on your computer as well. If you are a programmer or just someone who chats online and everything else in between makes a difference. Some are content with how things work, others like to hack and tweak like nuts. I'm the inbetween. I play a game, and make things for it, run a couple websites and chat, so to me winxp holds enough for what I do.

[sottm 0]

Ridiculously to put such questions. Becouse for sample one operation system oriented for Gamer/home user, another to Buisnes and office work, another just for fun... It would be silly to say one is BEST another is not BEST. Windows oriented to make money, push computer progress and create OS which be useful at home like intertaimed machine. Linux oriented to programmers, open source programmers, and it's just fun... remember book by Linus Torvald - "Just for fun" and i thing this OS too just fun. From the side of defence and stability good choise is Solaris, it's one of many OS which I respect.