Windows 7 is out. Mac OS X Snow Leopard is out. Ubuntu 9.10 is out. Let the games begin.
Seriously, With all 3 “new” operating systems out, you can start to see the fights happening. Windows fans that review Snow Leopard saying its not that good. Mac fans complaining that Windows 7 does not deliver on its promises. Linux fans saying that Ubuntu is going to wipe the floor with Windows and Mac. Seriously, its the same old same old from everyone.
Now, I”m going to be straight. I use Windows and Ubuntu (although I have not upgraded my Linux boxes yet). Windows 7 is very nice, it does just work, and there is little about it that I don’t like. Over the last 2 months, I have found it to be stable, fast, and helpful all in the same breath. The pin to taskbar instead of quick launch is great, and the preview of open windows is awesome (despite some things I’ve read you do not need to click on the icon in the taskbar just hover over it for a moment then hover over the mini preview to get a full screen preview that will disappear when you move the mouse again).It has its place in the market and that place will more than likely be a major one.
Ubuntu I have been enjoying since I found out about it. It has its drawbacks at times (9.04 has had problems with my wireless card), but each version gets a bit better. It definitely has a place, and honestly, with a good push from some manufacturers, who could make more of a profit selling it, and a nice windows skin for the GUI, it would work fantastic for the everyday layman. I mean the person who uses word processing, e-mail, web surfing, and social networking. People who need certain types of apps are still sort of bound to Windows (or Mac), but with a big push and widespread acceptance, that could change. I’ll do a piece on a little experiment I have done with Open Office as to viability and why I mention the Skin idea.
Macs do just work. They are great for audio and video production. They have their place in the market. The problem with Macs is the Apple tax. Everything for a Mac is more expensive, from the machine to the software, because of how tight Apple keeps things. This tightness extends to Apple’s other items such as the iPhone and iPod. Its their choice to do that, and yes to an extent it does make them a bit more secure, but the whole secure idea got blasted a bit this year when security researchers found the Mac Botnet. Like others that are not as popular, hackers don’t see a big reason to try and go after Macs because the share is not there. This sort of security through obscurity has been around for years, but to show what can happen if Macs become too popular, just look at Firefiox. As it has become more popular, it has come under attack more frequently. So would Macs, Linux or anything for that matter.
The bottom line on all of this is that there is a place for all 3 Operating Systems, and there will be for a long time. Competition spurs innovation, and any one of the three could come up with the next big thing, or at least find the easiest and best way to incorporate the next big thing into their system. What sucks is that you don’t get a lot of true objective reviews out there. Reports have their biases and in the OS world, they are rather tough to overcome.