Google Switches to Mac, Bans Windows Over Security Flaws

[jliedeka]

I keep hearing about how hard Linux is to use. Every year somebody runs an article that asks whether or not Linux is ready for the desktop. I've been using Linux as my desktop since 1998. I have a Mac at work which is fine but I like Linux better. I'm a java programmer and I find Linux the easiest environment to work under. If something unexpected happens, there are decent shells to let me check things out from the command line. Plus the environment resembles the places I will deploy my apps - usually Solaris or Linux servers.

Jim

 

[jeffsg4mac]

I keep hearing about how hard Linux is to use. Every year somebody runs an article that asks whether or not Linux is ready for the desktop. I've been using Linux as my desktop since 1998. I have a Mac at work which is fine but I like Linux better. I'm a java programmer and I find Linux the easiest environment to work under. If something unexpected happens, there are decent shells to let me check things out from the command line. Plus the environment resembles the places I will deploy my apps - usually Solaris or Linux servers. Jim

I have been playing around with the newest Ubuntu 10.04 on my macbook. While falls short from OS X 10.6, it is not too shabby I must admit. If it was a choice between windows or that I would choose the linux I think.

 

[jliedeka]

The one place where OS X totally rules is how it manages wireless connections. I can close my MacBook and go somewhere else and it immediately finds the wireless and connects. If I've been there before, it remembers the password, if needed.

Linux is a little more reliable than Windows in that respect. I've had problems getting Windows machines to connect at all. Sometimes I have to reboot my linux laptop to move to another connection. I'm sure I'll either think of a workaround or the network manager will improve.

The reason I mostly prefer linux to OS X is partly familiarity and partly worries about Apple heading towards a closed ecosystem. Plus there's a lot of open source software that I can easily build on a linux box if it's not pre-packaged (which is rare these days). I haven't learned how to build native apps on OS X yet.

All in all, OS X is pretty good in most ways and superior in some ways but I'm more comfortable with a linux environment.

Jim

 

[pzaur]

The one place where OS X totally rules is how it manages wireless connections. I can close my MacBook and go somewhere else and it immediately finds the wireless and connects. If I've been there before, it remembers the password, if needed.

Nothing new there. My 6 year old pc laptop does this. I type it in once and I'm done making the connection forever. The only time I have to pick a network from a list is when I'm making a new connection.

PC, Mac, Linux, whatever. Choose the platform that suits your needs best. I prefer not having to spend $1,300 to upgrade/update/replace hardware in my computers.

-pat

 

[jeffsg4mac]

The one place where OS X totally rules is how it manages wireless connections. I can close my MacBook and go somewhere else and it immediately finds the wireless and connects. If I've been there before, it remembers the password, if needed.

Linux is a little more reliable than Windows in that respect. I've had problems getting Windows machines to connect at all. Sometimes I have to reboot my linux laptop to move to another connection. I'm sure I'll either think of a workaround or the network manager will improve.

The reason I mostly prefer linux to OS X is partly familiarity and partly worries about Apple heading towards a closed ecosystem. Plus there's a lot of open source software that I can easily build on a linux box if it's not pre-packaged (which is rare these days). I haven't learned how to build native apps on OS X yet.

All in all, OS X is pretty good in most ways and superior in some ways but I'm more comfortable with a linux environment.

Jim

The biggest thing that keeps me from using linux is software. There are a few pieces of software that are only available for OS X or Windows and there is no equivalent or one even close for linux. One is Apples Aperture. It is hands down the best photo software available. It is simply awesome. Lightroom is a close second and there is nothing even close to either one for linux and I have tried what is available.

 

[jamie2112]

I love my Mac and am glad Chrome is doing away with the virus prone windows platform.I hate BG more than Jobs thats for sure.......J/K I love everyone!!!!

 

[JerryLove]

The problem is that Google was not hit by some random virus (of which: most target Windows systems or applications), but by a targeted attack.

By those standards: Mac OS is *less* secure than Windows 7. Linux can be made more secure than Win7, but is not in its default configuration (most builds).

Added to that: since Google develops software, and the majority of its (non-phone) cusomters use Windows: it seems a bad decision to outlaw the system most of your customers use.

and am I the only one that noticed a complete lack of talk of computers in Jobs' address this year?

 

[JohnA]

Added to that: since Google develops software, and the majority of its (non-phone) cusomters use Windows: it seems a bad decision to outlaw the system most of your customers use.

How are they outlawing a system when they can still develop in a native Win environment on a mac?

 

[panzeroceania]

The biggest thing that keeps me from using linux is software. There are a few pieces of software that are only available for OS X or Windows and there is no equivalent or one even close for linux. One is Apples Aperture. It is hands down the best photo software available. It is simply awesome. Lightroom is a close second and there is nothing even close to either one for linux and I have tried what is available.

you should try digikam for linux, it's the best camera software I use.

homepage: http://www.digikam.org/

example video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_CfGMy9VmE

seriously watch that video, it's getting better every day.

As you can see the newest release was released yesterday, June 8th 2010.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

you should try digikam for linux, it's the best camera software I use.

homepage: http://www.digikam.org/

example video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_CfGMy9VmE

seriously watch that video, it's getting better every day.

As you can see the newest release was released yesterday, June 8th 2010.

I will look at and and play with it, but from first glance it still looks to be a long way from either Lightroom or Aperture.

 

[JerryLove]

How are they outlawing a system when they can still develop in a native Win environment on a mac?

From thread title: "Google [...] bans Windows".