What is your choice o/s?

[freon]

"Ill tell you, I may dislike bill gates but he did do a nice job when he built 2000."

Bill Gates did not build Windows 2000; nor does he build anything. He's the boss - the man at the top. As such he does no work whatsoever. :-)

"95: too out dated to do anything but work IE. excel, Word wanna play mine sweep?"

I still run Windows 95 on my 486/33 laptop (8Mb core, 1.2Gb disk, 2x internal CDROM). It has the Win32 version of GNAT, GCC, Tcl/Tk and Perl installed, as well as Hugs98 (Haskell interpreter) and a few miscellaneous odds and sods. Takes a while compiling (especially Ada95 code) but it's still perfectly respectable.

"98: tends to lock up alot, not secure enough."

I'd second what ThePreacher said about SE being a lot better. I still don't like 98SE, but it's true to say that it's better, just general running wise, than the first edition. However, you say it's not secure enough - in fact, it's not secure /at all/. You realise, if you just install 98SE off the CD and don't install any updates etc., you can wipe its hard disk with an HTML page (if you don't believe me, check out the Scriptlet.TypeLib ActiveX object...scary). Then again, the idea is that you /do/ install all the updates - at which point, well, it could be worse.

"ME: lets not go there.....LOL musta been low on funds for this OS."

OK, on this point I agree with you unreservedly!

"NT: great security but dont expect to play games on it."

You call NT's security /great/!?

"2000 server: Really how many ports do I really need. unless you are a server?"

I suspect you don't really understand the parlance you employ...your Windows 9x/2k/NT machines, and of course your Unix machines, will all have 65535 UDP ports and 65535 TCP ports. I think you're referring to the number of services it's running - which is up to the admin. Also, a server is a program, not a machine.

"2000 You better have a manual for this one, between the security and the user setup and the parents rights and what may have you."

OK, yeah, it's more complicated to set up than W9x. It's not /that/ difficult though. It's still all point-and-drool.

"Unix: really do I look like a programer, maybe it was good for my grandfather."

Oooh, now you're stepping on my feet! Unix is /not/ just for programming on! If it was, it would be totally pointless. The fact is, it's a lovely system all round. Well designed, and (depending on exactly which Unix, but I think I'll generalise) smooth-running, secure and reliable. And as for the grandfather comment - Unix is the only modern system available today. Yeah, Windows...but it still terminates lines in text files with CR/LF pairs. Talk about flint axe.

"linux: good for the hackers, crackers, geeks and freeks. but I have a life besides ****ing up other peoples ****."

Linux is just a Unix. It happens to be a really friendly one. That doesn't mean it's just for hackers, crackers, geeks and freeks, though; it's excellent for learning about computing, or just running your webserver, or just generally having a useful machine on your desk. OK, so it's a little tricky to learn, but you could aim the same complaint at any Unix-like system...it's a steep learning curve, in other words, but at least you only have to climb it once.

"well we covered most of them. and yes Ive used them all. And I ask myself will there ever be a good OS? the world may never know."

This sounds kinda like showing off to me. We did not in fact cover most of them (What about PICK? ITS? ITX? B/TOS? VME/B? Amiga DOS? MS-DOS? Acorn MOS? OS/2? OS/360? VMS? TOPS-10?...) There's nothing all that impressive about having used one real Unix, Linux and a few different versions of Windows...so why bother mentioning that fact?

As to your question - "Will there ever be a good OS?" - well, your answer is yes. There have been several. I love PICK for example (very small, simple system, with a relational database built right into it (I kid you not)). Or ITX; local governments in the UK used to run all their housing benefits etc. on little 128K ITX boxen with just open reel tapes and 20Mb of hard disk. Also, it's hard to find any real problems with Acorn MOS or CP/M - they're very primitive and simple, but they were just what were needed, when they were needed - and they were undeniably reliable and useful systems in their day.

I personally hold that Linux is a good system currently available and still very alive (still being developed and maintained very actively), pretty much no matter what you're using it for. Admittedly, it's not too hot for games right now (but check out WINE - http://www.winehq.com/ - it runs Half Life now!) but it's excellent for anything else, more or less, that you might want to do with it.

Anyway, this post is long enough already. I hope it's useful enough not to be too offensive! :-)

- Freon

[UberC0der]

Le me see here.........

Slackware Linux - Minimalism is bliss
FreeBSD - how can you not love chucky.

Oh I guess that was two.

< Harsh Scottish accent >

If it's not Unix it's CRRRRRRRRRRRRAP!!

[psychosquee]

DOS- I liked the absence of all of the user friendly crap that makes Windows so popular...that, and I am one of few in my area who do know ANYTHING about DOS (There's me, stflook, my friend Ben, and a few others...) I LIKE DOS! Even though it is a Microsoft product!

UNIX - WHO DOESN'T love UNIX?! With the fact that they have had almost 40 years of refinement, it is a well defined, secure system, which ensures the user/admin/network tech not nessesarily ease of use, but the reliability and confidence that NO MICROSOFT PRODUCT CAN EVER DELIVER!

LINUX - with its charming little penguin as a logo, it is one of the easiest unix based operating systems to use on the market in this user's opinion... although it does have a somewhat user friendly interface (as long as you aren't running it as a webserver under Red Hat or other distrabution), that does not take away from the overall power of the operating system with the penguin on the box.
The Three Salute!
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