When Titans Collide

what are you smoking, author?

hmm... let's combine the two leading OS's into one piece. no competition, no reason to improve or fix what's broken.

there's a reason market domination is bad for the consumer, it drives up prices, and reduces quality.

competition = GOOD.

 

As if alternative OSes is competition enough for Microsoft. But maybe Apple can't cater to the customize this DIY market. If you like to swap processors, get Windows.

But if Apple did merge with MS, or even just made a joint operating software that had the technology of OS X, but the expandibility of Windows, then don't you basically have souped up Windows (which is essentially Vista)?

Who else would cater to grandma who just wants a Mac mini to see her photo slideshows or the creative Mac professional who needs to pay onsite service to install RAM?

I think the directions both are going are good. Windows definetly needs some improving, but XP is pretty damn awesome for what it can handle.

As for Macs, they do fine themselves. Apple's got their own little marketshare, and that's been enough to keep them going for 30 years. And as if Mac fanboys are prepared to ditch their favourite computer because of no expandibility, tight control, and exploding batteries.

 

Hmm, so the ultimate OS would then be one that is stable, fast, secure, has a mounted file systems (and allows virtual links) supports the full range of hardware and has good automatic detection for it.

Did I hear anyone say Linux? SUSE/(K)Ubuntu/Fedora Core/Mandriva all conform to those categories and they're free.

Also what's this advocation of non-optimised code? That's a frankly moronic idea. A 500bhp engine doesn't guarantee a fast car. It's only if the car can put that power on the road that it becomes fast. I don't want to spend good money on a blisteringly quick pc to find that the new M$ OS uses 75% of the resources because of lazy coding.

 

You missed one, Dliberate. Easy to install and use. I agree, Linux is superior, IF you can get it to run. I'm on my third distro and I am still banging my head against that particular brick wall ( ). Ease of use for non-geeks is the big stumbling block for widespread linux acceptance. If someone can release a distro that just works, period, then they will have a much bigger impact on MS market share than anything Apple has yet released.

Oh, and welcome to Bit-Tech!

 

All your criterion are all filled by OSX. Its UNIX so its like linux but with one change: Its workes really easily. Its mindnumbingly easy to do things.

 

@Cthippo: Thanks very much for the welcome! - may I ask which distros you've tried? I've had a few (minor) problems with hardware on some of them but I've never encountered any with Kubuntu or Ubuntu (Breezy onwards). Also, I think those two distro are probably the easiest ones to use. They come pre-installed with the majority of the things people need and VLC media player is availble for both so the codec problem goes away (it has inbuilt support).

@Lynx: I agree that OSX is much more intuitive but I'm pretty sure it doesn't run on any hardware you like without some sort of hack - as far as I'm aware I couldn't just install Tiger on my homebuilt PC. With Linux you can. Hell, you can install Linux on pretty much anything: PC, Mac, Xbox, PDAs, Mobile Phones... My only real gripes with it are 1) No Direct3d equivalent - only OpenGL games will run natively. 2) No Photoshop. Emulation is possible, but slower and a lot of hassle. OSX solves problem 2, problem 1 requires XP... sadly.

 

This is true that it doesnt install on all hardware. Though apple laptops are nice. I do prefer linux over windows. Its just a pain in the arse to set up nicely. Though XGL is nice

 

I recently got openSUSE and hevent had much trouble installing it. I did a netinst and all my hardware worked straight away. Tried debian first though and I couldn't get netinst to work and even after I downloaded the full CD and installed it I still had trouble with sound and video. I love the idea of linux.

-ed out

 

Merger, nah, I would say it would be a pretty dumb a$$ business strategy by both companies. I forcast a more sinister quiet co-operation between the two, in a conspiricy against the public. That way the fan boys have something to be passionate about and can be led along like the true sheep that they are. (some would argue that this has been happening for a while now)

 

I started out with an old version of SuSE, then tried Simply Mepis and finally the latest stable version of Ubuntu. I had SuSE running for a while on an old Dell box someone gave me after much struggle with video drivers. I never could get Mepis to run, and when I tried to install Ubuntu on my main machine (see sig) I found out that it doesn't natively support nVidia cards. I got the latest Kubuntu beta on CD at Linuxfest a couple months ago, but haven't had time to try it yet. Granted I'm running some fairly non-mainstream hardware, but still, it shouldn't be this hard.

 

@Cthippo: Have you tried openSUSE 10.1? I'm new to linux but (as I said above) it worked a treat for me. Mind you, I installed it on a Duron "Morgan" 1000, Asus A7A133, 128MB PC133 SDRAM, GeForce 2MX 100, 40GB HDD. Just my $0.02

-ed out

 

How then would I would my friend hide his pr0n collection from other people (eg significant other) who uses said computer but can't appreciate artistic nudity?

Keep them seperate I say. We need the innovation and competitive prices.

 

but then the games companies would have to concentrate on playability!

 

OT: IMHO the game industry needs a kick up the backside. While *some* new games have both good graphics and good gemeplay/storyline, many seem to think that the only thing that matters is graphics.

-ed out

 

everyone says Mac is sooo easy to use but every time I have to use my gf's Mac (either for photoshop or if my system is awol) I cant find a dam thing!!! i can't figure it out. I know windows inside and out, and have used linux without problem , but osx is a complete mystery to me. as a proud modder and power user this infuriates me to no end! I hate that thing!!! (I think its watching me now...Its leering at me...)

windows + osx = I go full on Linux convert

 

I do hear that quite often from some people what kind of things do you find you cannot find?

 

Funny, as someone who's used Windows since 3.11 from age 6 or so, switching and becoming competent in OSX took me about two hours, and fairly proficient in under a week. I've dabbled in Linux and pretty much hated every time I tried, but OSX seems more intuitive (the filesystem's a little funky to me, but that's out of habit rather than it being a problem) than Windows ever was.

 

yes i would love to see the 2 companys mesh 2 gether even for a day to see what they both come up with but lets face it, ITS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.