Which operating system do you use, and why?

[omgwtfbbq]

your mother said:

LingLing said:

Entroper said:

 

I tried Ubuntu on my main workstation, but after 2 hours or so of dealing with the package manager crashing and screwing up my install, I said to hell with it. I don't have time to fiddle with an OS to make it work right on my main computer, I need it to do what I want it to do when I want it to do it.

Yeah and thats exactly the reason I use Ubuntu 7.04 on my main computer. Just as you can't understand ppl hating vista, I can't understand ppl not liking ubuntu. It's in so many ways more advanced than any Windows OS (this goes for debian in general, not just ubuntu).

Most people who rant about linux being bad probably just tried it for 15 minutes and when something didn't work, they just tossed it away saying "Linux is bad, I couldn't do XY" . As if you don't run into problems with M$ Software. HA HA HA

Of course you need time to adapt to a new type of OS when you change from Windows to Linux but this could well be the best spent computer time of your life...

BTW: I run Mac OS X on my media centre mini mac.

A lot of this OS business and what you end up using depends on timing. My case was definitely a case of adopting too early and hating the consequences.

I'll tell you my experience with Linux. It was about five years ago. I decided to try it to see how it would work as a print/scan/torrent server.

Back then the most user-friendly was Mandrake. I downloaded it, and attempted to install. The process took about two weeks of intermittent fiddling around. Then when I finally got it to work I went online to the Mandrake site to download the drivers for my printer and scanner. The printer was not a problem but once I started looking for the scanner drivers everything went downhill. Some software required you to first compile the binary? Come on! You've got to be kidding!

It wasn't worth my aggravation nor the time, so I uninstalled it. My conclusion back then was Linux is not ready for consumer prime-time.

Back then:

• If you are familiar with Linux or Unix you should have no problem working around these issues.
• If you are familiar with Windows and programming you can still encounter issues simply installing Linux.
• If you are a newbie with no previous computer experience you would have more fun whale-gutting in the Arctic than getting Linux to run.

That was then, however. Seems like Linux has matured these days, and Ubuntu seems to be the entryway into Linux nirvana. I guess I will try it again but if Linux ever wants to be considered a consumer/mass market OS it needs to be more than just an OS - it needs to offer a painless user experience and that starts with the installation - and extends across every facet of the OS.

Yeah basically. I had the same experience about 8 years ago. Absolute pain getting anything installed. I gave up on it as a failed project and just left it alone.

I then installed Ubuntu 6.06 and well, everything just worked fine. With 7.04 there was absolutely no issue getting the hardware on my laptop to work (unlike Windows XP, where I didn't have ethernet or USB drivers and the only way I could get the drivers was to download them on Ubuntu and copy them over. If I didn't have Ubuntu installed I would have been in trouble).

Of course things aren't perfect on the Linux side of things and a lot of software is a little rough around the edges but you'd be surprised at how much it has matured in just 5 years.