Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Is Linux the only other OS option?

So you want to get away from Microsoft for whatever reasons, does that mean Linux is the only other choice? Nope, you have 300+ of Linux flavors to choose from :-D

"I mean other than Linux..."

Ok.

If your main reason to jump ship is because you are sicked of the virus and security issues, and just out of hatred of Microsoft, Mac OS looks like a viable option for you.

Benefit of using a Mac is, cool hardware design, easy to use desktop, pretty interface (a fully configured Linux desktop can achieve this too), work flawlessly with your ipod & iphone, and there are some Windows applications available on the Mac platform.

However, if the reason you are getting away from Microsoft is due to DRM and OS lock down, Apple is worse than Windows in this respect. Not only the OS is proprietary, the hardware is as well (even though they are using Intel platform nowadays). You probably have to spend a lot more money on hardware using a MAC. The OS is also full of DRM controls, and the only good thing out of this as compared to Windows is Mac OS does not have draconian piracy protection like the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA).

"How about other OS?"

There is another fairly popular Free OS, FreeBSD and its variants, based on UNIX, and which many believed Mac OS is built on. It is rock solid stable and efficient, making it an OS choice for some web severs. The downside of FreeBSD is less hardware and software running on this platform as compared to Linux. If you have problems with Linux in this respect, it is worse on BSD.

"More?"

There is one called React OS, which looks promising as the objective is to build a Free and Open Source OS based on Windows NT. I am not sure how usable is the current version, you gotta try it out yourself. There is another, called Syllable OS, which has a stable release.

"Any verdict?"

Apple is a very viable alternative for most if you don't give a hoot to DRM and have some money to spare; whereas Linux is recommended if you want to continue on the PC platform, and you want to have Freedom and make use of the abundance of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

For the rest of the OSes such as Free BSD, React OS, and Syllabus, give them a chance and try them as a secondary (or tertiary) OS if you have time to tinker, the hardware and software support on them is less as compared to Linux which makes them less suitable as a main general purpose desktop replacement for most users.

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