Title: Windows, Linux & Mac

Published: Jun 05, 2024

Windows

Biggest of all the other operating systems. Windows is easy-to-use and it has the most support of all (troubleshooting issues is much easier than other operating systems just because a larger volume of people use it). I have used windows for the majority of my time with computers and find that the OS is very good for what it needs to do and is not going anywhere anytime soon - primarily because microsoft have things like office 365 that is used globally, reaching 400 million users as of 2024. Not only does Windows have most businesses but gaming too - almost any game you can think of can run on a Windows computer with almost no issue (apart from installing Nvida Geforce or the Ryzen equivalent). Linux & Mac Os on the other hand haven’t got much support. This is thankfully changing with the introduction of things such as the steamdeck making linux a more viable part of the operating system market (& no extra development costs - looking at the Apple Developer Program for $100).

Linux

After using windows for a number of years I started to explore the world of linux as I was getting more and more into software. One big part about linux is the terminal. I absolutely love the terminal for linux, it feels as though you are interacting with the core parts of the operating system at lower level than just clicking through some gui. I especially like how there are shells like zsh, fish & addons like oh-my-fish/zsh (zsh:theme -> dst is the best) to make using the terminal an absolute breeze with things like autocomplete (absolute magic to me).

Not only are the tools very nice to have such as the terminal - the loads different distros that are created & maintained by different communities is one of the best & most unique things that I love about linux, the one’s that I have the most time with & are some of my favourite are:

• Ubuntu (best for daily-driving but not as interesting as the others).

• Kali linux (1337 hackerman).

• Parrot OS (1337 hackerman but not as good autocompletion in terminal).

• Arch linux (lots of customisation & lots to get into but can be intimidating for beginers - my main os for now, windows is primarily for gaming).

  • Garuda linux (runs on arch but very cool & easier to install than arch).
  • Manjaro linux (What garuda was before garuda came around - an easier way to install a more fleshed-out arch-based distro).

The biggest downside (besides a few security issues / sketchy updates due to the nature of open-source - although even windows isn’t invulnerable to that.) is that it does not have support for Microsoft Office stuff - especially things like Onedrive & Office365 which make it a pain because these are used by LOTS of institutions and businesses which means people must use Windows or a vastly more expensive computer just for the privallage of using Onedrive which is very annoying but understandable to keep their operating system market share for windows & keep that sweet, sweet revenue incoming baby!!! This wouldn’t annoy me too much but the fact that you can use Onedrive & Office365 on Mac - which uses the same terminal (sadly not the same kernel: UNIX(Linux) & XNU(Apple)), so there is support for it but just not available unless you pay Apple’s hefty price for one of their laptops.

MacOS

Apple do make very nice products. I have yet to hear or see of a laptop that comes close to the build-quality & the “nice-ness” of a macbook. For example the trackpad is the best on any laptop that I have ever had - the glass & aluminum make it so smooth and you have plenty of space to scroll the whole screen, which is something that I don’t find on many Windows laptops. But then I don’t find a £2,500 price tag on many laptops that run Windows either. The keyboard is also very nice as well as pretty much everything on the laptop - you get what your paying for (apart from some pretty small SSD space - seriously - 2.5k for only 1TB and +$400(~$3k) for 2TB is a bit ridiculous in my opinion). Other than the hefty price tag I would say it is worth it if you can spare the money, the superior build-quality & very nicely integrated operating system is the perfect balance between Windows and Linux as you can use all Office 365 apps like Teams, Onedrive, Powerpoint etc… and have the usefulness of a terminal all on the same operating system.

Closing thoughts

I use all three for daily use as I have Windows & Linux on my desktop - Windows to mostly play games and run some occaisional software, Arch Linux for mostly everything else & I don’t have to choose between Windows or Linux as I have a macbook for my laptop.

However, my personal favourite of the three has to be linux.

This is probably because I agree with Linux on a philosophical level with free and open-source software for anyone to examine, download, tinker & learn with as it benefits everyone involved and makes wonderful things like the hundereds of linux distros:

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I feel as though this inspires creativity as there are LOADS of distros that you can learn and explore - way more than a single lifetime can cover anyway - especially the much older lower-level ones (going back to the flopy disk with the MCC Interim). I also love Linux because of it's rich history that is very interestng - released in 1991 & has it's origins in Unix released in 1971. Still used in most servers around the world I think the operating system has a good future - as well as Windows and Apple too, they have two tech giants backing those so I think they'll be okay. Anyway, I love each operating system for it's own advantages, but I just like the way linux is developed as it's centered around lot's of people all collaborating to improve a piece of software which I think is beautiful in it's own right - the shared achievement of a group of people, especially if it's to make your life easier (e.g. fdisk) is very valuable and should be encouraged.