Just to make an argument!

[Deleted member 139377]

I will be discussing the total need, and usage of the major applications, or OSes in these markets.

Web Browsers

Operating systems...
thats it... I may also include some fun things.

The major browsers right now are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera.
No, I will go about judging them based on my experience with all of them.

Security- Will be rated from 0 to 10.
Opera- 9
Firefox- 8.5
Safari- 8
Internet Explorer- 5

In terms of security, you cannot go wrong with Opera or Firefox, they have very few holes, and even less on specific operating systems.
---

Speed- Will be rated from 0 to 10.
Safari- 9.5
Firefox-8.5
Opera-7.5
Internet Explorer-6 on a good machine.

Safari is undoubtedly the cheetah of the browser world, on mac, or pc, other then being pretty ugly on a pc, it is the smoothest browser you can use.
---

User Friendliness- Will be rated from 0 to 10.
Fire Fox- 10
Opera- 9
Safari(Mac)- 9
Internet Explorer- 7
Safari(PC)- 6

In terms of user friendliness, Firefox and Opera will rarely let you down, with thousands of skins, and thousands of add-ons to improve the experience, they are undoubtedly the best browsers for the multi-purpose, multi-platform user.
---

Now, chew on that for a while.

Linux, vs Vista, vs OS X.

I am not going to include XP for one reason, IT'S DEAD! No more sails, means no more inclusion, Mac OS X 10.5 is now stepping on the skulls of mac os x 10.0-10.4, so obviously I am talking about Leopard.

When it comes down to general ease of use for a normal user, mac OS X is only a short jump of learning from windows, and is always much easier, and much more stable for the user.

Windows, though, has the massive software background, and the multi-platform capabilities.

Linux, will run on anything, but it's hardware support it's always the most holiest of holy.

Now in terms of security, it can get a bit complex.

General Protection against threats, known and unknown.
Vista- 10/10
Linux-8
Mac OS X- 6

Yep, thats right, I just gave vista a solid mark on security.
Vista, protects well, and I mean very well. While linux, not having anything other then security updates, doesn't protect much more then just not having viruses.
Mac on the other hand, has few viruses, but, few holes, but when there is a whole, little can be done to stop it, and apple has included almost no security features inside of the system other then user authentication.(Which linux and windows also have.)

one ... um, hour or 7, I need to sleeeeppp...

Will get back to this later, don't bother me.

 

[Gilles]

10/10 for Vista Security? Don't make me laugh.

 

[Deleted member 139377]

10/10 for Vista Security? Don't make me laugh.

I am not going by the ammount of holes.

I am going by the actual operating systems ability to protect against those holes.

Linux has few holes, and things to protect agaisnt them.

Mac has some holes, but little to protect against them built in.

windows has an assload of holes, and has so damn many things to protect agaisnt them, it's not funny.

 

[Samuraid]

I hate to burst your bubble about Vista security, but Vista is not all that secure. (Note: The article was on slashdot a couple weeks ago, so it's very recent)

 

[Deleted member 139377]

I hate to burst your bubble about Vista security, but Vista is not all that secure. (Note: The article was on slashdot a couple weeks ago, so it's very recent)

I am not talking about the actual security, as in no holes... O_O... seriously, I am going by the measures taken to make it more secure.

arrrgghhhh

 

[Samuraid]

I am not talking about the actual security, as in no holes... O_O... seriously, I am going by the measures taken to make it more secure.

arrrgghhhh

Maybe you should read the article I posted then. It referred to how a significant flaw in the way Vista handles security would make preventative and corrective measures virtually useless.

From the article:

The attacks themselves are not based on any new vulnerabilities in IE or Vista, but instead take advantage of Vista's fundamental architecture and the ways in which Microsoft chose to protect it.

In other words, it doesn't matter how secure Vista makes someone feel, and it also doesn't matter how many "security features" (UAC, DEP, etc...) someone has turned on. This pre-existing flaw in the very nature of how Vista handles security allows someone to circumvent such protections given the right circumstances.

 

[Gilles]

I am not talking about the actual security, as in no holes... O_O... seriously, I am going by the measures taken to make it more secure.

arrrgghhhh

You give it ten out of ten because it has a billion useless security features? Not a very good rating system if you ask me.

 

[Deleted member 139377]

Ya....

Think, if all of the systems had the same ammount of viruses, that did the same thing... right now, which one would fair the best?

har har.

 

[Samuraid]

Linux by far. Some of the "new" security features in Vista have been present in Linux for years.

Of course, this all depends on the virus in general and how each system is configured. With a vanilla CentOS/RHEL install though, and someone running their account in user mode like they should, Linux would remain far more secure against the vast majority of virus threats than Vista would.

 

[hive01]

Have to say: your ratings FAIL.

Firefox trumps the world of web browsing on ALL accounts.

Linux is more secure than any OS present.

And about XP being dead. That is very wrong.
Many many devoted windows users REFUSE to move from XP to Vista.
People are OUTRAGED that MS is discontinuing the distribution of XP.

--Chew on THAT--

 

[brad.dude03]

I agree. I'm using XP straight through until Windows 7 comes out. As for Safari being the fastest browser? It's always been a slug for me, with Oprah and FF loading pages and opening up much faster on BOTH Mac and XP.

 

[hive01]

Windows 7 so far looks like a faster less cluttered Vista...

I wouldn't be surprised if Windows 7 was also an enormous failure.

 

[brad.dude03]

You just told us what XP is. A faster less cluttered version of Vista. That's what I want. I'd never expect Microsoft to redesign Windows from the ground up.

 

[Gilles]

You just told us what XP is. A faster less cluttered version of Vista. That's what I want. I'd never expect Microsoft to redesign Windows from the ground up.

I've been told that this is one reason Windows sucks (according to some obviously).
They build on their old OS and never go from scratch, which isn't a good thing. From what I heard, Mac OS X was a complete rehaul of their OS and one reason it's been so good.

 

[hive01]

Yep. You nailed it right on the head Gilles.

MS should try something new.
Even if it sucks and is total crap it will be better than just doing the same OS over and over.

 

[brad.dude03]

Now if only the Mac OS wasn't so counter-intuitive, all would love it. I'm not content to use the presets that come as default. I want to customize my software to work in a way that best suits me. Mac doesn't let me use it. I used Leopard for a whole semester last year and hated it.

 

[hive01]

And the fact that Macs are so insanely over priced. All because of Job's "if it wasn't made here" attitude.