Windows is not any less of an operating system because it's Windows.

[Guest Ramm]

Windows.

 

It's a great operating system. It has the most application compatibility. It looks great. It rarely undergoes problems. It has good drivers. It doesn't require all-that-good hardware.

 

Why is it hated so?

 

"Because it's Windblows"

 

Lame.

 

It's a great OS. I am sick of hearing people complain about it.

 

It's just as great as OS X.

[bxsci(macuser)]

its not horrible

 

but it is nowhere near the level of OS X

 

i used windows from day 1, i was brought up on mircosoft

 

then when i got into my super awesome smart ass high school that 700 out of 28000 people that apply (actual stats) get into my parents said they would bye me a laptop of my choice

 

i chose the MBP when it first came out.

 

i was completely blown away by OS X- it stilll amazes me today

[nightalon]

its not horrible

 

but it is nowhere near the level of OS X

 

i used windows from day 1, i was brought up on mircosoft

 

then when i got into my super awesome smart ass high school that 700 out of 28000 people that apply (actual stats) get into my parents said they would bye me a laptop of my choice

 

i chose the MBP when it first came out.

 

i was completely blown away by OS X- it stilll amazes me today

 

you're right, but you suck for bragging. (bronx science is pretty dope tho...don't get sidetracked and ull get into an ivy...a couple o my friends here in new haven went there. try rockefeller u for a summer program.) furthermore, i'd bet a bunch of the guys who mod kernels and whatnot on this site have PhDs

 

right, on topic: triple boot and you'll have the best of [three] worlds...paying for the same software 3 times over kinda sucks tho...

[INFNITE]

Windows is a decent OS, but it's not as as good as OS X. Multi-tasking on Mac is much better handled, and Flip3D is a p*ss poor attempt at copying Expose. Windows in general is extremely bloated, and a resource hog. OS X can be run on an old G3 machine, Vista requires relatively recently made computer to run well. The UI of OS X is much better streamlined, and Windows...being Windows, is a huge target for attacks.

 

Macs are great because Apple controls the hardware and software. No need to deal with driver installation or any sort of driver conflict. Also, software installation in OS X is as simple as drag and drop. Windows may have more compatible software, but do you really need it all? doubt it.

 

I have both Mac OS X Tiger and Windows Vista installed on my Mac, and I have never touched Vista unless I need to play an occasional game or two.

 

Also, getting in a prestigious high school is nothing to brag about. Brag when you get in Harvard, Stanford, Princeton or MIT.

[Alessandro17]

I triple boot OS X, Linux and Windows XP x64 , and the latter is quite a good OS.

However I spend most of my time in OS X, followed by Linux.

It is Vista which sucks: every single person I know feels the same, including owners of computer shops.

[robotskip]

Windows is a decent OS, but it's not as as good as OS X. Multi-tasking on Mac is much better handled, and Flip3D is a p*ss poor attempt at copying Expose. Windows in general is extremely bloated, and a resource hog. OS X can be run on an old G3 machine, Vista requires relatively recently made computer to run well. The UI of OS X is much better streamlined, and Windows...being Windows, is a huge target for attacks.

 

Macs are great because Apple controls the hardware and software. No need to deal with driver installation or any sort of driver conflict. Also, software installation in OS X is as simple as drag and drop. Windows may have more compatible software, but do you really need it all? doubt it.

 

I have both Mac OS X Tiger and Windows Vista installed on my Mac, and I have never touched Vista unless I need to play an occasional game or two.

 

Also, getting in a prestigious high school is nothing to brag about. Brag when you get in Harvard, Stanford, Princeton or MIT.

Flip 3D wasn't an attempt at copying Expose, it was an upgraded Alt-Tab switcher and I've shown it's not as bloated/hog of a resource as some of you make it out to be so many times I won't bother to do it again.

 

For the record, I never made a comment about your opinion, only about things you try to state as a fact.

 

 

The bottom line is, Windows is nowhere as bad as people, especially on here, make it out to be but past versions have been severely lacking in many areas [and Vista lacks in a few areas too].

 

I never really liked XP at all and only upgraded because despite not liking it it did have many improvements and also because that's where everything went. I also used Linux/OSX every chance I could over XP.

 

Vista is.. well, I actually wanted to upgrade unlike XP and I find myself using Vista over OSX but I still find it hard to decide whether to boot into Vista or into Ubuntu 7.04 if I'm just doing general stuff which I can do on either, I like both heaps for different reasons.

[EPDM]

... including owners of computer shops.

 

Probably because they know jack-{censored} about how to use Vista. But instead of just admitting that they as supposedly porfessionals, don't know enough of Vista to actually sell/tell you, they simply tell ppl how bad it is. THAT is lame.

 

Frankly Vista (and XP as well) are not that bad at all. There are some fundamentall things wrong with Windows and it is targetted with the most amount of virusses, spyware and other {censored}. Not to mention to halfcooked made-in-china-crapp-hardware with even worse drivers (which are the manufacturors responsability!!!) that gets flooded on the PC-(read.: Windows-)market make things worse.

 

In that case a restriction to the supported hardware as Apple does, might indeed be a better case for stability and (relative) performance.

 

So in essence... yeah Windows suck because it is Windows and Apple doesn't suck (ATM) because it is (technically) better (for now). Don't get me wrong. Apple Inc. as a company sucks as big as Microsoft Corp. Both their respective CEO's are similar dictators and controll-freaks.

 

Cheers,

 

EPDM

[R2k.]

windows is good just for games and nothing else ...

viruses,spywares,adwares,unsabillity ..

[majestikmoose]

its not horrible

 

but it is nowhere near the level of OS X

 

i used windows from day 1, i was brought up on mircosoft

 

then when i got into my super awesome smart ass high school that 700 out of 28000 people that apply (actual stats) get into my parents said they would bye me a laptop of my choice

 

i chose the MBP when it first came out.

 

i was completely blown away by OS X- it stilll amazes me today

 

[Alessandro17]

Probably because they know jack-{censored} about how to use Vista. But instead of just admitting that they as supposedly porfessionals, don't know enough of Vista to actually sell/tell you, they simply tell ppl how bad it is. THAT is lame.

 

I can assure you, they are first class professionals.

[Colonel]

 

[bwhsh8r]

Windows.

 

It's a great operating system. It has the most application compatibility. It looks great. It rarely undergoes problems. It has good drivers. It doesn't require all-that-good hardware.

 

Why is it hated so?

 

"Because it's Windblows"

 

Lame.

 

It's a great OS. I am sick of hearing people complain about it.

 

It's just as great as OS X.

I think that both operating systems have their strengths and weeknesses, although i do agree that windows is a good operating system, they both have their strengths and weaknesses, and please, no fanboyisms here.(not you ramm, just other people that ive noticed)

 

and its also because, as the leader it is scrutinized most i guess.

[A Nonny Moose]

Windows can be a good system, but what happened is that Microsoft gave stupid people the keys to the new Corvette and they then wondered why on earth they kept crashing the car into adware, er trees, and spyware, er road signs, and just how the heck a virus, er cable, got on there that is screwing everything up.

 

Now Vista comes out and Microsoft (to its credit) made a usable OS that is so much like OS X in that you need the administrative password to do everything on the system. So stupid users are now complaining that the new Corvette won't run.

 

It really isn't Windows at all. It's stupid users.

[Zealot]

Windows its not a bad Os it just suck when it comes to provide proffesional apps i mean Microsoft its a software company and they dont even make killer apps they just put paint , I explorer, .....all {censored} well they have Office at least but that doesnt even come with the OS.

On a more positive comment, i been in Windows since i was a child so im use to all the things you have to do to make it work the way i want . The way i see it a lot of people dont see what windows has to offer that would be mainly a plattform where you can put wathever you want to put in there , if you screw it up thats your problem not a Windows problem.

[siddharth]

Windows is a great OS. Period. Application compatibility. Application availability. Stability. In all senses. Way more applications are written for Windows. Now...

 

windows is good just for games and nothing else ...

viruses,spywares,adwares,unsabillity ..

 

Spyware, Adware, Viruses... If OS X was as popular & widely used as Windows, it would be targeted too, and malicious applications would be written for it too. It's not that security holes don't exist in OS X. There are as many of them as in Windows... It's just that no one has really taken advantage of any of them yet.

 

Stability... Just think about one thing... Windows as an operating system runs on a WIDE variety of hardware while Apple has restricted it's OS only to it's own hardware. Hence instability which may arise from unstable drivers for your hardware in Windows, obviously is totally rooted out in OS X, as there is only a specific set of hardware for which drivers are created, by Apple itself. If Microsoft were to start selling their operating system only for a specific range of their one hardware, you'd see how stable Windows would become too. Or in the same way, if Apple were to release their OS to general hardware, you'd see how many instability issues would arise due to buggy 3rd party drivers.

 

Windows isn't good only for games... Although most pro software is written for both platforms these days, there is a far greater choice in the Windows world.

 

OS X is definitely a great OS, but Windows isn't far behind.

[lmbranco]

I do not have an apple computer (so far, it will only arrive next week ) and i have used Windows at the least for the last 10 years. Before i had an amiga that used their fantastic os, and i can say that i do recognize that Windows is a very good operating system, with some great software. For me the big issue with it is that most of the times that you install an application it copies dll and ocx's to your system that are loaded everytime the system starts, and this makes the machine unworkable after 6 months. This is not true to all of you, maybe most of you only play some games and once in a while try an application, but i try 10+ applications per week, and trust me, every 6 months i make a reinstall of windows to keep my system stable.

I installed OS X in my Laptop and i was quite surprised the way the installations are done, however i still feel that there are some programs copying to much to my system folder. i am a newb in what comes to Mac and OS X, so maybe this is for sure the best OS ever, but this only applies to the use you make of it, for some people its ok, for other is useless, for others its great.

 

I still use windows everyday, and i can't say that i will ever be able to put it aside, but i will for sure use OS X more and more, and i trully hope that Microsoft releases a XP V2.0 and cuts the {censored} with this Vista, that for me its nothing more than another Windows Me, the true magic of an operating system is its ease of use, and for most of us common users, the easier the better.

[siddharth]

For me the big issue with it is that most of the times that you install an application it copies dll and ocx's to your system that are loaded everytime the system starts, and this makes the machine unworkable after 6 months.

 

My friend, I can assure you that I install almost as much or possibly even more applications than you do. And the kind of applications I install-reinstall are ones like Adobe CS3, Office 2007, Maya, 3DS Max etc. Basically huge applications. I haven't re-installed Windows XP on my work machine since last August which is almost a year, & I use this work PC of mine for quite a bit of performance oriented tasks like 3D Animation, Video Authoring etc.

 

It all depends on your skills of cleaning up your whole installation and of not installing {censored}-ware.

[mifki]

I used to run windows with all the apps siddarth uses, like 3ds and maya, they are huge apps, i also had about 10 different renderers installed including renderman and maxwell render, and my system only slowed down when i ued the ntfs FS. I'd still be using windows now, if i had a use for those 3d apps, but i dont as i have stopped 3d almost completely. Even though mac has equivalents to these, its just better on windows.

[EFI]

If OS X was as popular & widely used as Windows, it would be targeted too, and malicious applications would be written for it too. It's not that security holes don't exist in OS X. There are as many of them as in Windows... It's just that no one has really taken advantage of any of them yet.

 

Thats not true at all mate. The market share statement has been disproved time and time again. Remember, OS9 did have few known viruses ...and its userbase was only a fraction of what OS X's userbase is back in the days. This was when Apple was going downhill in the mid 90's too. The reason why there isnt a true virus for OS X so far, is becuase of the way in which OS X is designed. UNIX, is far more secure, and has been researched time and time again, as it is one of the oldest known system run bases out there. The permissions hierarchy that is used in OS X is way to strict for any malicious code to execute and actually do damage to the system files, which is what a true "bad" virus does.

 

Now dont get me wrong, I'm not saying OS X is bulletproof , as that would be a false statement, but in reality, it is much, much more difficult to design a virii for OS X or any other UNIX based operating system than it is for Windows. Security holes do exist in every single operating system out there, be it OS X, Linux, Windows, Solaris, or any other BSD variant out there. These "vulnerabilities" are vastly different from the term "exploit" however. This is an important distinction that should be noted. Vulnerabilities represent a "what if" scenario, while "exploit" refers to a "{censored}, its happened" scenario, so to speak. Security holes constitute the "vulnerability" expression, and thus not the "exploit" case. The latter is much worse, obviously, and the former is what Apple is proactive about., thus preventing it from becoming an exploit over time.

[siddharth]

Thanks for the great explanation EFI...

 

Conclusion #1: Windows is more vulnerable and thus more exploited, than OS X.

 

Solution: Switch Windows to a UNIX base. (Which indeed is gonna happen in Vienna )

[Guest Ramm]

Harumph.

 

I see more posts in here about how crappy Windows is than anything else.

 

I'm loving that picture Colonel.

[quixos]

love Half Life 2 mods on my Windows partition.

 

Windows vs OS X?

 

those who can do both, don't give a {censored}, do they?

 

i know i don't.

[siddharth]

I swear it. The picture rocks. And since I have both too, I really don't give a {censored} either.

[apowerr]

Thanks for the great explanation EFI...

 

Conclusion #1: Windows is more vulnerable and thus more exploited, than OS X.

 

Solution: Switch Windows to a UNIX base. (Which indeed is gonna happen in Vienna )

I thought that Vienna was going to be a 64 bit, NT based, Win FS based (next gen ntfs) OS with all applications sanboxed..

Windows recieves so much criticism, and it doesnt deserve most of it. Windows is a very solid OS and Vista is a worthy successor to XP. Microsoft is in a really tough spot now because a lot of their customers use legacy hardware and applications so they cant update Windows too much. Apple went smart and did what needed to be done. They went intel, thus losing all OS9 support but they made intel based OS X so great it didnt matter. An example of the spot Microsoft is currently in:

OS X Commuinity- Ah wow! Aqua is terrific and OS X comes with all of the applications I need!

Microsoft- Here look at Vista, it has a new awesome GUI and tons of cool new features!

Users with sh*t hardware- WTF MS?! My computer cant handle this RAM eating {censored}.

Sorry if it was hard to make any sense out of this post XD.

[EFI]

I thought that Vienna was going to be a 64 bit, NT based, Win FS based (next gen ntfs) OS with all applications sanboxed..

Windows recieves so much criticism, and it doesnt deserve most of it. Windows is a very solid OS and Vista is a worthy successor to XP. Microsoft is in a really tough spot now because a lot of their customers use legacy hardware and applications so they cant update Windows too much. Apple went smart and did what needed to be done. They went intel, thus losing all OS9 support but they made intel based OS X so great it didnt matter. An example of the spot Microsoft is currently in:

OS X Commuinity- Ah wow! Aqua is terrific and OS X comes with all of the applications I need!

Microsoft- Here look at Vista, it has a new awesome GUI and tons of cool new features!

Users with sh*t hardware- WTF MS?! My computer cant handle this RAM eating {censored}.

Sorry if it was hard to make any sense out of this post XD.

 

 

Hopefully Microsoft will add WinFS finally to Vienna (2009?). It has to be 64bit, since Leopard coming out this October is going to be completely 64bit, but with a 32bit cocoa layer, so you will be able to run 64bit and 32bit apps simultaneously side by side, with no speed reduction or compability issues. Another reason why Microsoft is really in a tough spot (and this might be the most major one) is the fact that they are having the fight of their life against Linux and the open source community on one hand, and fight Apple and OS X on the other hand ever than before. More and more average joes are being educated that Windows is not the only operating system out there, so ofcourse the biggest threat to Microsoft now is Google, Apple, and Linux....all three of which are in a position now more than ever to do multi billion dollar damages to Microsoft where its most important...the OS department.