The OS is a tool to run apps.
It should run the apps I use.
It should support of my hardware.
It should meet my price range
It should meet my level of expectations on responsiveness.
XP does all theses things
Linux does not handle the software and some hardware
Vista misss my old scanner
OS X can't handle my software either
I tri-boot between Vista, XP, and Ubuntu. But Vista is the standard now.
I'm sick of everyone taking sides of an operating system. like Zubaz said, its just a tool to run programs on a computer. That's really all it is. Sure, they're important (can't run the programs without them), but it's not like everyone in the world is suddenly going to be stricken down with a deadly plague if one operating system (in the person's opinion) is better than another. Here are my views:
Windows is here to stay. It's been around for the past ~20 years, and it is what all other operating systems are measured by. Most people know what Windows is, even if they don't know what a computer is. During the Windows 95 launch, people bought it who didn't even own computers just to see what all of the hype was about. It is offered and runs on almost every single computer on the consumer market. Also, it has about 90% market share.
Mac OS X looks good. It just looks great. The interface is bright, shiny, and attractive. But, its not really good for productivity for me. I try to work on a Word document, and for some reason I repeatedly press the F12 key just to see Dashboard come up. The water effects when widgets are launched are so pretty... Also, OS X can't natively run all the programs that Windows can, making it a not-so-good alternative for some people.
Linux...oh dear, Linux... When I first heard about this, a free alternative that could, potentially, run every program I ever needed, I was excited. But then I had to pick a distribution. I went to http://www.linux.org/ to find a distro, but I was overwhelmed with the hundreds upon hundreds of types of Linux. Wow, there were so many. Finally, I tried out a few of the most popular ones, Ubuntu, Fedora Core, Knoppix, and OpenSUSE. I finally settled on Ubuntu. Okay, now on to the important parts: Linux can be easily customizable. I don't know ANY Linux code and in about 5 minutes of copying-and-pasting from forums, I had Beryl/Compiz running on my mom's 3 year old desktop. It ran a lot faster than Vista on my Gaming monster but with a lot more eye candy. But that's where it fails to me. I am using Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" right now, and I really like all of the eye candy. But that's where Mac OS X got me down. I can't seem to work very good in this environment. A few other bad things share roots with OS X too. Again, market share is a problem. Like Apple's operating system, Linux has only about 5% of the world's computer market. Not many people know about it.
Finally, I would like to discuss one more operating system. It is not completely done, but in my opinion (and many others on the Joejoe.org site), it is one of the greatest things to happen to computers. It is called the Longhorn Reloaded project. I'll try to explain here: Back in 2003, Microsoft started Windows codename "Longhorn". It was to be the successor of Windows XP, and it was just plain amazing. From the demos in PDC 2003, those who knew about it were literally excited. I was only 11 years old at the time, but when my uncle came home and showed me a video of the demos, I thought it was like watching Star Wars for the first time all over again. Breathtaking. Anyway, in mid-to-late 2004, Microsoft got overwhelmed with the Longhorn project and started from scratch. They scrapped all of their work with Longhorn since 2002-2003 and started over from the Windows Server 2003 code base instead of that in XP (which they had used at first). This new Longhorn would eventually, through the years, change its name to Windows Vista. Anyway, the Longhorn Reloaded project aims to revive the original Longhorn and make it a viable operating system for real people. It will have the productivity of Windows, since it is Windows after all, but it will also have good security, and of course the eye candy that people just love to see on a computer. I wish the best of luck to JoeJoe.org and their project.
I'm not trying to side with Longhorn Reloaded, as I don't want to seem hypocritical. I just like the idea of reviving a good operating system from almost certain doom. I still like Windows Vista. I still like Mac OS X. And, I still like Linux. I like them all equally. I don't care which one I use, as long as it gets the job done.
I would like to thank Zubaz for the inspiration of this long post.
