How about Windows vs Macs?

Who hasn't heard of this religious war?

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Having done support on both, I tend to pull away from saying one is better than the other. In fact, when I've been asked which is better, I've said very honestly that it depends on the purpose. If it is for pure data; number cruching, word processing, cateloguing, and so forth, Windows tends to be superior. But if it comes to music composition or graphics, especially graphics, Windows has a hard time competing. It is sort of like asking which is better, a pickup or a race car. Race cars won't do very well out in a field hauling wood, rock, and so forth, but pickups usually wouldn't be much competition on the Daytona 500 speedway.

You know, even in this, there is spiritual significance. "Each, according to his nature."

I agree with Rev Rex. I use my PC for my business purposes, and my mac for my music and design purposes.

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I've also done tech support on both.

I think the limitation is not what each platform is capable or even does well. It's what is easy to do, along with issues of minority-majority, that account for most of the arguments - but instead some progress in weighing the virtue of the OSes can be wrestled about in terms of the OS's underpinnings.

The first issue - what is easy to do - often has more to do with the options programed in by the software company. Almost all the complaints about Windows vs Mac come down to different versions of Office and implications going back and forth there.

If one compares interfaith issues the pattern would be people arguing one or another religion is right when in fact what they are doing is differing over differences in implimentation going one way or another.

The second issue - of minority/majority dynamics - the problem is that the Macs make several concessions for living in a Windows world, whereas Windows tends to presume anything it does is right and proper. Looking for religious parallel here I might favor, noting details of history, that the True Religion came first but was eventually surplanted by a "good enough" version later (something I might apply more to Islam in particular but in a longer time scale to Christianity as well.) Add that softwares might build under limited budges for only the majority platform....

As for arguing core functionality, I would note the horrid performance of the Windows registry vs the robust assumption of corruption and rebuilding in Desktop Databases in preX OSes, and in OSX in common with other linux/Unix systems that plain text files account for settings and information rather than complicated coded forms inside the centralized database. Contrarily it is true that Windows evolved a more efficient multiprocessing ability first.

In studies of cost-benefit Windows comes out when repetative tasks are the main measure - and that creativity tasks are the Macintosh bailiwick.

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Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.

If an OS Ran an Airline
UNIX Airways
Everyone brings one piece of the plane along when they come to the airport. They all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing non-stop about what kind of plane they are supposed to be building.

Air DOS
Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again. Then they push again, jump on again, and so on ...

Mac Airlines
All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look and act exactly the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are gently but firmly told that you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be done for you without your ever having to know, so just shut up.

Windows Air
The terminal is pretty and colorful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off.

After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.

Windows NT Air
Just like Windows Air, but costs more, uses much bigger planes, and takes out all the other aircraft within a 40-mile radius when it explodes.

Linux Air
Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself.

When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do what with the seat?"
()
(as a personal addition I might add I've just begun figuring out how to install Gentoo Linux and the 40 page installation manual!!! just boggles the mind. In addition the problem of not being able to find a way to tell the Mac how to do something often comes from approaching it with a Windows mind set - if you are in an unfamiliar terrain attributing the problem of how to change a setting to the computer is the technician's problem, not the OS. In Linux/Unix too often the fault isn't that it's complicated to setup, it's that a technician's skill is required to get most things done - setting up the seat is real parallel - compiling the plane, adjusting it to fit US roadways and radio norms vs Germany vs China, is more the measure.)

__________________
Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart!
They that believe in vain thoughts forsake their own mercy.

You forgot the Amiga OS, SMKolins, i used to fly that one - the plane is really really fast, but the passengers have to push-start it down the runway.



Sometimes more than once.

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I've been using Ubuntu Linux for several months, for the simple reason that it's the only major distro that will work on my laptop. Manual? What's a manual?

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