Ubuntu Linux vs. Mac OS X

An anonymous reader writes "An article on InformationWeek pits an Apple user against an Ubuntu Linux user (although he talks about other distros as well) as to which OS makes a better desktop operating system. As might be expected, the conclusion seems to be "different strokes for different folks," but it's interesting to see Microsoft cut (mostly) out of the equation."

Comments

They're not mutually exclusive

[Heftklammerdosierer!]

Ubunutu is easy to install on a Mac.

Re:They're not mutually exclusive

[gEvil (beta)]

I know next to nothing about Ubuntu, but I'm assuming you can't run it from within Mac OS X...

Actually, you can via virtualization (Parallels, VMware, etc).

Re:They're not mutually exclusive

[gb506]

Overpriced hardware? Go price out the Macbook Pro 17" w/ WUXGA screen (1920x1200) in standard config (2.4G SantaRosa, 160GB HD, 2GB Ram, etc), then go to Dell and price out a similarly configured M90. The Mac is $333.00 cheaper, and the Dell doesn't even have the latest Santa Rosa chip set!

Sure, you can get cheaper hardware elsewhere, but you normally get exactly what you pay for.

Re:They're not mutually exclusive

[p0tat03]

Actually, the Rolls Royce analogy may be apt. But really I think it's more like a BMW analogy. Both Toyotas and BMWs are nicely built, one has more luxury trimmings than the other, but all in all they still get you from point A to point B. Both are likely to experience problems during their lifetimes, and the difference comes out then. With the Toyota you will receive adequate service after bitching at the warranty guy, whereas with the BMW you will receive prompt, courteous service that addresses your concerns quickly and completely.

Having owned both Macs and PCs (guess which one I'm on now), I can tell you without a doubt that this is true. When my Toshiba broke down I had to bring it to the retailer, deal with a support tech who was more than unwilling to help me, and in fact tried to deflect every malfunctioning bit as normal behaviour, or somehow make it seem like accidental damage. I was extremely dissatisfied.

Compare and contrast to when the hinge on my MacBook Pro broke. I phoned it in (no Apple store where I was), my call was answered in less than 5 minutes (try THAT with any other major consumer laptop manufacturer!). The tech took my serial, verified my warranty coverage, and immediately passed me off to a product expert who is more familiar with case issues. The other tech answered in less than 2 minutes, and the first tech even stayed on the line to summarize the problem for him, so I don't have to repeat myself. The second tech immediately gave me an authorization number for the repair, and my laptop was back to tip top shape in a couple of days.

Time taken with PC: 2 hours.
Aggravation: 10

Time taken with Mac: 15 minutes.
Aggravation: 0

Many people will feed you with BS about how Macs are unbreakable or such other BS. They break like any other laptop. The difference is in how you're treated after that fact.

Print Version

[decipher_saint]

Easier to read print version:
http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArt icle.jhtml?articleID=201002048

One Button Mouse Charge Stale

[Naum]

Article bangs on the "mighty mouse" as not really being a 2 button mouse... ...while I am no fan of it, I recently hooked my Mom up with a new IMac and played with the mouse and the button on the side does right click and the knobby deal in the middle acts as a scroll wheel, at least it worked for me... ...and on my MacBookPro two fingers on the pad can accomplish same functions as a 2 button mouse...

Re:It's about switching.

[kdemetter]

Dell also sells computers with ubuntu preinstalled .

http://www.dell.com/open

Re:from TFA

[Just Some Guy]

You want me to do what with my processor?

The new Core Duos pull more current than you'd expect.

Cloning Mac OS X

[RedBear]

I am blown away by the fact that the Mac OS X reviewer failed to mention SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner on the page about backups. They linked to a page that mentions it, but it should have been at the forefront in big, bold letters. This IMHO is one of the best features of Macs and Mac OS X, that any idiot can make a clone of their entire system onto any internal or external media. If that media is a FireWire hard drive, the clone will be bootable on any Mac with a FireWire port (and the same processor type, PowerPC and Intel can't boot from each other's drives without some hacks). This means that for any PowerPC Mac going back about 8 years to the first iMac with a FireWire port, you will be able to clone the system drive of any other PowerPC Mac onto a FireWire hard drive and boot from that drive on any other PowerPC Mac in that range. The same goes for Intel machines, although they can also boot from USB devices. (There are reports that some PowerPC models can also boot from USB drives since about Mac OS X 10.4.5 came out, but FireWire is a much better choice speedwise anyway.)

So if your hard drive dies, you have a bootable backup that works just as well as the internal drive (if you're using FireWire, USB is a little slow). If the computer dies and you have access to another Mac, you can boot from your backup drive and it will be just as if you were still using your own computer, barring any extreme differences in memory and processor speeds. With enough RAM available the processor speed makes very little difference under general usage like web browsing, email and office applications. When you get your computer fixed (or replace a failed hard drive) you can then clone your backup drive back onto the drive in the computer, reboot, and it's like nothing ever happened. Click a button, walk away for about an hour, and get back to work.

With a properly implemented cloning schedule you can recover any system, including a Mac OS X server, in about 5 minutes (as long as it takes to restart the computer, hold down the Option key, and choose to boot from the latest backup drive). I could teach a monkey to do it.

No resetting hidden magic identifiers.

No reinstalling a hundred different drivers for different motherboards, video cards, network cards, etc.

No, "I'm going to refuse to work at all because there is too much different hardware." (I tried to Ghost a Win2K system from one laptop to a virtually identical laptop once. The clone failed to function, ended up having to reset the registry and reinstall most of the pre-installed software.)

No, "This copy of your operating system needs to be reactivated because the hardware changed, you dirty pirate." The non-server version of Mac OS X doesn't even require a serial number, so of course there is no product activation crap to make your life more difficult. Even the server version can be freely cloned and moved to a different system. It requires a serial, but there is no product activation.

No shutting down the system and booting from some special magic CD just to do a clone. That's right, Mac OS X can be easily cloned LIVE, while it's running. It can be cloned automatically on a schedule, so the user doesn't have to even have to think about it.

The target media can be smaller than the source media, as long as there is enough room for the data. It's a smart clone, only the relevant data gets copied. That's all automatic too, the user never needs to go through any complicated preferences or command-line arguments. No need for defragmenting the drive or anything like that either.

In short, Mac OS X is the first operating system I have ever encountered where it is incredibly easy to make a complete USABLE system backup that doesn't require jumping through hoops for hours to restore the system. Any non-technical user can be told in one short paragraph how to keep their system backed up and how to recover from a typical hardware disaster in a matter of minutes. Observe:

"Here is your external backup drive. Her