What is Best? Microsoft OS, Apple OS, or Linux OS?

Question

There are three basic brands of computer operating systems software available today. Which do you believe is the best from the standpoint of safety, security, and privacy?

Both Microsoft and Apple are US based companies which are for-profit enterprises with secret source code.

Linux, by contrast, is not-for-profit and you can get the source-code. It seems to me that Linux is the way of the future.

Here's my motto:

Linux is the Bestux.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Macs have better resale, are easier to use, make better (more efficient) use of the hardware, are more reliable, are more secure and their total cost of operation is lower than PCs.



PCs are cheaper, initially, than Macs. There are lot of people out there who know Windows so its easy to to find someone to comiserate with.



I have found noone with real experience in both platforms that prefers to use Windows for their desktop. Even if you're just going to use the machine for surfing the Internet, Windows and Internet Explorer are notorious for their security holes. The MacOS os layer (based on FreeBSD) is far far more securely written so it is harder to write viri for (and obviously, since Macs are a smaller part of the market, fewer people are writing viri for them to begin with).



In particular, once you understand generally how Macs do things, you can pick up new applications very easily. There is far more (needless) variation in how interfaces work across the Windows platform, so applications take longer to master.



The vast majority of large commercial software products out there have Mac versions, and its relatively easy to run either a virtual machine or "boot camp" (dual boot) if you must run Windows products on your Mac.



I have given members of my family Macs because I don't want to be their system administrator if I can help it. They can administer their own machines. If I had given them Windows, I basically would have been signing up for a no salaried system admin for as long as they had my gifts.



So what do I use for my desktop? I use Linux.



This is because I develop software, and I am fairly comfortable making configuration changes to my system. Although MacOS is based on FreeBSD and the basics of the OS are just as good for development, the overlaying GUI turns it into a very different system. The things that I know about Linux and UNIX sort of apply to MacOS - but they've made a lot of changes in the name of ease of use.



For developers, I'd say the best over-all platform is Linux. Its very easy to develop apps that run on all three platforms. However, it is difficult to develop Windows apps under MacOS, and painful to develop anything under Windows. And of course, nobody deliberately develops Linux apps under Windows and very few do it under MacOS.

Answer 2

YMMV (Your Mileage May Very).



Apple - Mac OSX that is - is built on a linux platform.



Personally I prefer apple - I use it at work and have a mac mini at home (which I have just put plex on and will hook to my bedroom tv). In saying that I am on a Windows Pee-Cee at the minute, mainly cos I cannot be bothered to shove Ubuntu Linux on it.



You will get fanatics on all sides of the fence - and the three operating systems pretty much do the same thing anyway.



It will be hard for either apple or linux to get the market share that MS has though. The next generation (or more likely - the generation after that) will probably be some sort of linux (google) platform on a device that hasn't been invented yet (tv/computer/net thingy). So I agree, linux is the future - but it wont be in its current guise. A third party (google/apple) will have to package it. That's just the way the world works.



Oh and if you are talking about Linux - Ubuntu and Debian are the best - the rest - pfffft ;)

Answer 3

Linux is good/the best security wise, certain distributions are more user friendly than others e.g. Ubuntu but the only catch with Linux is that if something goes wrong, quite often the only/quickest way to sort it out is via the shell prompt.



This can at first can be daunting but with bit of practice you will never dread the blinking cursor again.



As long as you are not afraid to have a go then I would definitely go for Linux. I dual boot Ubuntu and XP and the only time I use XP is if I want to play a game.



Also once you are running Linux you will be part of a global community which you can always count on for support.

Answer 4

Safety, security, and privacy you cant really choose a best. Microsoft's OS has the most options for the end user who is not too Computer savy there are hundreds of available applications for Windows to lock your computer down without much effort on the users part. Security and privacy are inherent in every version MAC's OS because it is fully Unix based. Unix is by far the most secure OS but that wasn't an option. Besides most people wouldn't want to use a specialized OS like Unix in a home pc so that brings us to Linux. Linux is only loosely based on Unix which gives it most of the security features of OS X but makes the OS more user friendly and customizable like Windows. In the end though Linux always wins because we live in a capitalist country and its free.

Answer 5

They all have their merits and problems, personally, I prefer Linux - the open source method ensures that nothing can be hidden in the code, and that security flaws are found and fixed at a far more impressive rate then companies which supress code. However, Linux is a geek operating system, don't expect it to treat you like a paying customer.



Mac's are great for the purpose they were designed for, but once you out-grow that purpose, you out-grow your Mac.



Windows is the de facto choice for everyone else, it works (just about), but leaves you frustrated from time to time since it has to balance 100's of different hardware specs and software drivers, it's bound to have a hard time in some situations.

Answer 6

Go for Windows, though you can get Linux for free. A lot of programs don't work with OS X and the program they created to run Windows programs was half baked at best. Windows is the most widely supported, get a good anti-virus and don't surf porn and you won't get any viruses. Linux isn't one of those pick up and use it kind of OS's, it takes time to learn shell commands. Elana is right, Macs are notoriously easy to use, they are written tighter, and they can run Windows programs in the "boot camp" which is half baked as I said. What she fails to mention is that a MAC has less RAM, disk space, and virtual memory. Even if you wanted to run larger programs that take a lot of memory or graphics capabilities, you probably couldn't without costly upgrades and customizations added on top of an already expensive Mac. Windows Vista (easy to use if you take the time to try to figure it out) has 4GB of Ram out of the box, and that's from Walmart, if you go to a computer store, and you get more RAM for whatever you want, it'll still, more than likely end up being cheaper than the Mac. About the viruses, I've had my three computers up and running for many years now and have only gotten one virus, probably from song downloads or whatever, but the anti-virus took care of everything.



I hope I could provide some insight,



-Billy

Answer 7

i've never used apple or linux before, but for me, microsoft is the best. it actually depends on how familiar you are with your computer.



microsoft OS is really user-friendly, but it is really vulnerable to computer viruses. its software is also easy to illegally mass-produce, so you must be alert when it comes to microsoft - compatible software.



apple OS, on the other hand, is really hard to use (for me), and that there is a little computer virus population. apple OS can be selfish about their software, limiting it to apple OS users, but their software is good, it's like its for professional use.



i don't know anything about linux, but its drifting away from the stage can mean many things. it may keep a secret which the other operating systems don't have. however, since most of it is free (or something), like microsoft, most of its software can be faked, so be on the look-out.



so really, it's up to you, if you know your computer. :D

Answer 8

I prefer Microsoft OS! because it is compatible with most softwares.

Answer 9

Go for xp only i use it since 5 year i also used vista but xp is good u can install almost all software ,games in xp.

Answer 10

For gaming there is XP



For everything else there is Linux



WHY LINUX IS BETTER

http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/





LUg.

Answer 11

i also say linux. but people should try all 3 and decide which one they like best.

Answer 12

Backtrack.

Answer 13

Atari ST lol

Answer 14

Commadore. Those were the good ole days LOL

Answer 15

apple

Answer 16

depends what u need



microsoft is for if ur into technology and wanna edit everything



apple if u wanna have luxury and sit and relax, but it wont have ur own signature



linux i believe is if u just want smthn simple and/or to work with

Answer 17

LINUX!!!!!!!!!!