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As someone with a mixed OS environment, I like finding articles (especually real technical ones) that compare and contrast the benefits of Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu to see if there are any previously unknown strengths or weaknesses I can take advantage of. So I’m reading through just such an article on PC Magazine called OS Wars: The Battle for Your Desktop and I come across this gem:

The current version of Mac Leopard costs $129 direct, or $109.99 at Amazon, where you can also still buy 10.4.5, aka Tiger, as well. With Apple, users pay every year (or so) to get a major upgrade. Microsoft provides its major Windows upgrades, called Service Packs, free of charge. Paying more for Mac OS upgrades is a bit galling when you’ve already paid a premium for the hardware.

Are you kidding me? I almost immediately thought this was some sort of Microsoft fanboy article until I remembered, this is PC MAGAZINE! It’s galling to me that the person who wrote (and edited) this didn’t know the difference between Service Packs and OS Upgrades wrt to Windows. For the record, Tiger is to Leopard as XP is to Vista - i.e. a major upgrade AND a separate purchase. There’s no magical service pack that you can use to upgrade XP to Vista. And it’s not free. And mischaracterizing the Tiger to Leopard upgrade as “galling” is piss poor journalism.

In reading the entire article it became clear that the writer was very familiar with Microsoft products, but seemed to rely on others to provide the expertise on Ubuntu and Mac. For instance:

The Ubuntu core, however, is a text-based OS—something Windows spent years getting away from. And unfortunately, you still have to use terminal input to install software or configure settings far too often, even more often than you had to use DOS command lines in Windows 3.1. Until Ubuntu can do away with the terminal for all but the most geeky uses (as the Unix-based Mac OS does), it will never become an OS for the masses.

Anyone who’s even played with Feisty Fawn, Gutsy Gibbon, or even Puppy Linux knows that synaptic and other similar package manager guis have been around for a while. I can’t speak for other distros, but I’d assume it was the same there too. What’s funny is the author mentions this later in the article. Huh??

On a more important note, does this guy understand how Operating systems work? The knock on Windows is it’s stability - something that *nix systems have in abundance. I recently ran an ipconfig /release on my Windows XP box and it shutdown on me - closed all my open applications and only gave me 60 seconds to save. And I consider myself lucky I didn’t get the dreaded BSOD (blue screen of death).

OS architecture on Windows rears its ugly head when it comes to viruses and malware. In *nix based systems like Ubuntu and Mac OS X, programs that are installed play in their own space. No need for a single-point-of-failure registry or possibly overwriting shared DLLs like in windows. If you install something that needs to be a bit more invasive, it always asks you for your password - so you know when something nefarious may be afoot (like the Sony Rootkit). With XP it’s come one come all wrt editing system files. As long as you have admin access (which most people with XP Home have) you can do what you want. Vista fixes this with a band-aid approach by asking you to confirm everything - sometimes twice - and getting in the effing way. Again - it’s all about the design.

And now for the best line of the entire piece:

among them the slick Internet Explorer 7 (especially slick when compared with Safari on the Mac, a bad browser)

Internet Explorer is by far the most bloated, memory hogging, malware attracting browser on the planet. The whole BHO (browser helper object) architecture is simply ridiculous - no wonder virus writers lick their chops when a new exploit is found. Safari may not anything to sneeze about feature-wise, but if it is “a bad browser” then IE is “a worse browser!”

Come on, PC Magazine - I expect better than this!

Popularity: 8% [?]

A while back I found a very good deal on a Dell 531 slimline - part of its 530 budget series computers. Like $300 good. And they’re having it again. The systems in question, and indeed the one I bought were shipped with FreeDos. I figured I could just install my own copy of XP or 2000 on it. The comparable systems shipping with Windows Vista cost more, plus there was no way I was going to deal with the frustrations of Vista.

When I got the machine and went to Dell’s site to download the sound card, mobo and graphics drivers, I noticed that they weren’t there. All they had were Vista drivers. WTF? Seems in an effort to push Vista on the consumer, Microsoft has forced PC Makers not to support XP on their machines. So to find the XP Drivers for this machine I had to hunt around the internet. Thank goodness I found them:

• Graphics Driver: nVidia ForceWare Release 162
• Sound Card Driver: Realtek Onboard R175
• Motherboard Driver (incl Ethernet, USB, etc): nVidia nForce 430 chipset

I’m now happily running XP on a cheap Dell and will never have to deal with Vista.

Popularity: 10% [?]

With all the attention that Leopard (MacOs X 10.5) is getting in some circles as the preferred alternative to a Microsoft world, it seems that the Linux train, which had already arrived in other segments, is silently creeping up on consumer America. As Gizmodo points out  look at the two products ready for the Christmas season - the $200 Linux desktop at WalMart and the $3-400 Asus EEE ultra portable Linux laptop. They’re attacking first at the pocketbook and then at the experience.

Asus released their highly anticipated eee PC, a 2lb Linux-derivative laptop that runs just $400. The reason they get the plus? Early reviews have been quite positive. (We’ll give you a full rundown next week when the verdict’s in.)

Then Wal-Mart starts offering the Everex $200 Linux PC. Since 5% of the Wal-Mart computer buyers are looking for their first computer, why not try something without an Apple or Microsoft badge of approval?

Linux is already a staple in corporate America and government running some of the very websites that users interact with daily, and has made its way into appliances including some cell phones. Why? Because it’s cheap and stable, 2 things that are prerequisites.

But no longer the fussy ugly duckling, the Linux user interface has matured over the years to be just a friendly as Windows and Macs and sports a deep network of support online. The experience is becoming less and less painful, something which is more and more desired in a world with constant Internet Explorer virus/malware attacks and Windows security holes. And literally with a few keystrokes or mouse clicks, you can add a variety of new, stable, powerful, and (most importantly) free software to your machine to take the place of Office, iTunes, Windows Media Player or even Freecell. Even your mom can use it. Dell has already been selling desktops and laptops with Ubuntu Linux - breaking the Windows-only stranglehold they’ve had for years. And there’s a $300 Linux Laptop coming to Wal-Mart soon from the same guys behind the $200 PC.
Linux has already been pushed as a way to bridge the digital divide both home and abroad. Who knows - maybe someday soon YOU will have a positive Linux experience that will make you want to save your Vista and Leopard money for something else - maybe gas money?

Popularity: 9% [?]