[RESOLVED] Windows Vs. Mac

shifty18

So I am starting to get in to PHP and so my book collection is getting larger and larger on a number of subjects with Dreamweaver MX. I was wondering what advantages MAC OS has over Windows. They allways seam to have pictures of MAC OS use and windows and i was wondering fi their was any advangtages over MAC???

greg252

OS X is based on UNIX- very stable. Windows, by nature is not stable. I can't think of a better reason to use mac.

planetsim

I dont use a Mac, or have the Mac OS, but what greg252 said, is very however, not PHP-related but if your a Graphics Designer you would use a Mac, because of the Macs color depth.

shifty18

Oh right, so the Mac has a much better colour depth then the standerd PC. And I canunderstand that it is more stable, but then why dont you just use Linux. Pc's are more powerful then Macs and Linux is free and very Stable!

Also I was tlaking to someone who uses Windows 2003 Server. It is just like XP and you can do all the XP things but the added tools and options to run servers. He said this OS is VERY stable indeed and XP is quite stable over the other versions but this is much mroe stable so hopefully their ishope for the new Windows comming out 2004 or 2005 to be a very stable system

greg252

New Windows version (codename-Longhorn) will be out in 2005, maybe 2006.

Yes, Linux is free, but have you ever used it? I have a win box, a Linux box and a Mac Box- I use them all, but the Mac box is more stable than windows. And os X is what linux has been trying to do for years- have an elegant GUI on top of a stable OS.

If you are serious about dev, I would go mac-- It is the only system where I spend more time doing work- not messing with the system.

shifty18

no I have never used Linux. Whats it like? I was thinking of using for a server we are going to make. Isnt a PC more powerful though, then a MAC, so in some cases, a more poerful system can be a bigger factor then stablity as Windows as THAT unstable. Say for example, if you are working in 3D Animation in a film, like Shrek for example. Renderding all those images takes along time and they havge very powerful computers, but if a MAC is not all that poerful, a PC might be the best option. Their is also the problem of gaming. The PC can play anything really as alost everything is made for the PC with MAC version made later, if at all. So a PC can do anything really, but jsut not as atable on a windows OS. But if this new OS is as stable as Windows 2003 Server, then stablity might be a very much improved on the Windows OS side

tomwerner

the reason also that macs are popular among graphics designers is because the GDI(Graphics Display Interface) is much more efficent in comparison to WIndows. This gives the perception that Macs outspeed PC's in performance. I think the new Apple G5 IS going to give older PCs a run for their money though! I have a feeling the Mac OS GDI is based loosely around Post Script.

Longhorn (not yet released) will feature a new GDI which is good becuase it hasn't been updated for a considerable amount of time however it will require a good amount of hardware muscle and bugs still need to be ironed out for example screen overlay is not supported at present(which is used in DVD playback on PC's).

On the Linux front, it is still relatively new and in my opinion 'raw', if you have used windows for a long time it will feel strange. the most difficult thing I found was getting used to the way files are stored on a *unix machine. If you are a confident computer user you can afford to get a slightly older distro like Redhat 8 or Suse. However, for the easiest transistion I have read that the most recent version of Suse Linux(http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008XYHO/ref=sr_aps_software_1_2/202-7997556-6454254) is good for people new to Linux. But linux does have advantages due to most linux software being Open Source/GPL(FREE) even advanced server tools! Just to get you started, if the server is going to supply a small office network with Windows PC's you need to investigate Samba. The link to Suse Personal is to show youo a product that could get you ready for Linux, I don't know whether it is of a strong enough calibre for a server though.

shifty18

Wait a minuete....I thought Linux was surposed to be free, so why are they selling this program, whitch is linux, for a price? Well Longhorn is a long way off yet and so their a bound to be bugs and so forth at the minuete. Well what attracted me to use Linuk for our OS was that is a free and very stable. We are going to build a computer with linuk and the programs on it and just use is that way. I herd someone had a Winamp Shoutcast server runing for 3 YEARS!!!. If that is true then that is amazing......3 years... LOL now thats stable.

Ravenous

Linux is free to download and burn.. If you want the CDs from SuSe, you gotta pay for 'em. www.linuxiso.org

The only thing you would need Samba for is if you want it to be part of the Windows network. If you're only running a server (Apache, PHP, mail, DNS, etc) then you won't need Samba. Linux r0x0rs and, in my opinion, is forever better than Windows in the server market. So I use Linux for my servers and Windows for my workstations.

shifty18

ok thanks guys, you have been a lot of help to me!😃

cgraz

moving to the echo lounge. If you're not asking for help with a specific problem in you PHP coding, please post to the echo lounge.

Cgraz