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Poll: What is your primary operating system

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Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#381

Post by archangel_one »

pavanky wrote: post #220
archangel_one wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last one I bought (a 13" about 18 months ago) wasn't. Yes, you could buy a Windows laptop from Dell or HP or someone for half the price, but it would have less than half the battery life, it would be larger (albeit probably not heavier; Macbooks are the densest laptops I've found) and it would have a plastic shell instead of aluminium which feels worse when new and won't age well. It would also come laden with cr…

Dell 15z: $1200 http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15z/pd.aspx?~ck=mn Macbook Pro: $2100 (Battery life 7hr) http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macboo... 15z review. Battery life: 7.5hr. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4711/dell-xps-15z-sincerely-fl... Just saying. Used the 15z for comparison, because I think it is closest in terms of form factor. If you are going to use linux anyway, why waste the extra $9…

Fair shout. Like I said, I bought my last laptop 18 months ago and back then I didn't think Dell had any good options; admittedly their website is a maze of twisty laptop models and brands and price points which I may well have missed something good in. Amusingly in this case I can't see any picture of their laptop and when I leave the tab via ctrl+shift+tab it pops something up saying '9'. Very professional.

I would also observe that I'm wasting money on an operating system I don't really want on the Dell as well, although it would likely be somewhat more useful to me than OSX.

I guess that it does look like a really nice machine. I think it says something though about Dell's image as a company that I find it hard to believe they've genuinely created something that good at this point (and yes, I have owned Dell machines before; that's part of why). I guess I should probably cut them some slack...

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#382

Post by cryptoz »

mironathetin wrote: post #78
staunch wrote: post #19

The day is coming when Chrome, Firefox, Safari will be the poll options.

"The day is coming when Chrome, Firefox, Safari will be the poll options." I am astonished. I wouldn't trust anything from Google any more. They aim at control over our private data. Absolutely unacceptable for everyone, but especially for developers, if you ask me.

So developers run Chromium instead. No big deal.

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#383

Post by housel »

At work: 1. 64-bit Windows 7 displaying a 32-bit Linux VM on one of the two screens 2. 32-bit Linux running native on an HP TouchSmart (for doing embedded Linux cross-development)

At home: 1. 64-bit Windows 7 running usually at least 2 or 3 FreeBSD and Linux VMs 2. Macbook for reading mail and developing while watching TV. Some programming done natively, some done SSHed into a FreeBSD VM. Also sometimes runs 32-bit Windows 7 in a VM.

So... no idea which poll option to choose.

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#384

Post by technomancy »

downx3 wrote: post #367
technomancy wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X has a few things going for it, but even Mac fans will tell you the window manager is not one of them; it's painfully primitive.

Which WM do you prefer?

Right now I'm using XMonad, but there are a number of other tiling WMs under X that actually manage windows for you instead of placing that burden on the user.

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#387

Post by deanproxy »

mikegerwitz wrote: post #345
irreverentbits wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument is, and has always been, ridiculous. The GNU user land is no more an operating system than the Linux kernel or the K desktop environment. It's just one component of a larger software system which most refer to by the convenient moniker of "Linux".

It is disappointing to see "GNU/Linux" comments consistently harassed. Consider the history. The GNU project was conceived in 1983 to create a full free (as in freedom) operating system. This operating system combined many different projects (for example, X), in addition to creating its own components. Before Linux, it had one troubled component - the GNU Hurd, which was its kernel. Torvalds developed Linux (the kern…

Mike, what type of computer do you own? Does it use Intel hardware? Maybe it was created by Dell or Lenovo or somebody else? When someone asks you what type of computer you own do you say "It's an Intel/Dell" or "It's an Intel/Lenovo"? Or would you just say "It's a Dell"?

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#388

Post by kprobst »

grandalf wrote: post #329

I'm curious about those using Windows. I can see four main reasons to use it: - You are a "business type" and prefer some app/workflow that you are already familiar with and don't want to change. - You used to work at Microsoft and you know it way better than other OSes. - Your target userbase has strong Windows lock-in so it makes the best business sense to use it. - You are really into gaming and don't want to dual…

Or you know, some people simply prefer it.

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#389

Post by gsharm »

"After all, it is no longer the purpose of programs to instruct our machines; these days, it is the purpose of machines to execute our programs."

- Edsger Dijkstra

By extension, I think it's more important for us to think about our programs than the operating systems they run on.

Re: Poll: What is your primary operating system

#390

Post by ngokevin »

drblast wrote: post #116

For desktop use I'm migrating back to Windows after having used Ubuntu almost exclusively for the past five years. It's a shame, because Ubuntu was soooo close to surpassing Windows from a "I just want to get stuff done without mucking with the machine" standpoint. But then Windows got much better with version 7 and Ubuntu took a nosedive into crazy UI fantasy land. The final straw was when text started randomly disa…

You didn't ever try running a different window manager?
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