Random Debates about OS X, Windows, and Ubuntu

[chem]

I'm wondering, has anyone done a comprehensive feature comparison of Gutsy vs Leopard?

A short list of Leopard features are here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/300.html
(It will also have the Xcode 3.0 developer environment + GCC 4.2 compilers available)

Compiz fusion basically borrows most of its best features from OS X. Leopard is UNIX certified. I mean, for a notebook or desktop (not a server), why run Ubuntu on an Intel Mac for anything other than philosophical reasons (or $$$, if you don't get Leopard for free via developer channels).

This is a serious question; I have installed Ubuntu on my own MBP, and am typing from a Fedora workstation. I like open source, and I like Ubuntu I'm just not sure what benefits it offers. I really want to be able to point out its concrete advantages, since Gutsy and Leopard are coming out within a week of each other.

Thanks.

[dmber]

here are my reasons why i will be deleting Tiger from my macbook as soon as i hand in this beast of a project i started in Pages:

1. $$$ -- you kinda brushed that one off. i'm a student teacher living off one teacher's salary (my wife's). why would i pay $129 when the features that leopard offers that i use are available for free in Ubuntu?

2. eye candy -- just because CF borrows the idea for a few of its plugins from OS X doesn't mean CF doesn't do them better. spaces are very much old school compared to CF. the number of "widgets" (screenlets) isn't even comparable, but as far as the widgets i actually use, screenlets has them.

3. i surf the net with firefox on both OSs

4. Pages is just a Word Processor, nothing more. Numbers actually hampered me in this current project. This means that I'd be using Open Office.org through X11 on OS X or Open Office.org on Ubuntu

The single thing I'll miss about OS X: quicksilver. well, that and slingplayer...but that's just me figuring out how to get it installed in wine.

[frup]

I for one dislike the look and feel of OSX.
I am a FSF supporter.

If Ubuntu doesn't meet your par yet think of what it will be like in 1,2,5 years... Think about how little windows and OSX have changed in those time periods, think about how much ubuntu has (well 5 isn't applicable... yet)

Apart from the philosophical Open Source also provides a fast development model that once a solid base is formed, the improvements are exponential.

I feel that Ubuntu is much more powerful than OSX... when using apples I tare my hair out trying to get it to do what for me are the most basic tasks in Ubuntu. That's just my opinion.

[Amaranth]

Actually OS X has changed rather dramatically since it's original release in 2001. Credit where due and all.

[jonny]

Myth TV? Openoffice? Decent multitasking? Ditch OSX's ridiculous dock? Windows that maximise? Multiple desktops?

Given the choice, why would anyone with skills in both Ubuntu and Gutsy ever use the former?

[chem]

Myth TV? Openoffice? Decent multitasking? Ditch OSX's ridiculous dock? Windows that maximise? Multiple desktops?

OS X can run Myth TV and OpenOffice, has great multitasking and leopard has multiple desktops (called "spaces"). I like the dock, but you can 100% hide or remove that too... I'm not sure what maximization problem you're talking about. if you want full edge to edge, there are utilities to do that too. -.-

[Greywhind]

I'm a huge fan of Mac's user-friendly-yet-still-powerful-ness. However, there are excellent reasons to use Ubuntu as well:

1. Free software - much of it is for Linux/Windows only, or just Linux, with no Mac version.

2. Games - some work on Mac and Linux, but many work only on Mac or only on Linux.

3. Programming - I need to be able to compile for Linux, which also allows me to compile for Windows with mingw.

4. Just in case Mac becomes as evil as Windows - probably not going to happen, but it's good to have an alternative just in case.

[syxbit]

credit where credit is due
i hate quite a few things about OS X, but overall it's far more polished than Ubuntu
at least we're better than Windows

[Hobbs]

Myth TV? Openoffice? Decent multitasking? Ditch OSX's ridiculous dock? Windows that maximise? Multiple desktops?

Given the choice, why would anyone with skills in both Ubuntu and Gutsy ever use the former?

MythTV: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Myth_on_Mac_x86

OpenOffice has an X11 version for OS X, and there is a more direct port of OpenOffice called NeoOffice. Mind you NeoOffice has the tragic flaw of being a java program, but thats a story for a different day.

I challenge you to find a system with better multitasking than Tiger (or perhaps now Leopard) Server

Ridiculous Dock and windows that maximize fall under "user preferences." IMO The only thing ridiculous about the OS X dock is the way it handles documents, and supposedly 10.5 (and stacks) will make this less gay. And tbh I don't want any app taking up the entirety of my screen unless its a something like photoshop. And even then having that background window like Photoshop has in Windows would totally suck. But to each is own.

As for multiple desktops, leopard has this. They're this much anticipated thing called Spaces.

Anyways I am a Mac user and I will continue to use OS X as my host OS until Apple goes out of business or something equally dire. Until you can provide me an OS that "just works" as it were, has a truly nice to use UI (GNOME 2.20 is getting there, and I have a good deal of faith in KDE4 granted), and has a nice set of Development tools (ObjC, Cocoa, DTrace, etc.) then I see no reason to switch.

Greywind: What on a mac prohibits you from writing gcc comliant code, seeing as OS X uses gcc as it's compiler? Nothing I can think of and I've collaborated on some SDL projects for most any platform you can think of without there being any problem between me and the other (windows and linux using) devs.

[ripplez]

macs have no right mouse button.. im sorry its just wierd