Mac vs Windows vs Linux vs Unix vs ...

Ok, look, nobody cares what OS it is that you prefer. Be it Windows because that's all you've ever had the pleasure of using or OS X if you've become an enlightened member of society (or so you peddle off on others). Maybe you like Linux because it's a great OS for developing and extremely stable. The thing is, all of these operating systems have their place which is why they're still around and being developed on.

Microsoft Windows gives us a good and simple ubiquitous platform that's very well suited for workstations in large multi-workstation environments. It makes it easier to manage end users as they're already familiar with this OS.

Apple's OS X is a really nice, simple and intuitive UI on top of UNIX. It's ultra clean and stable. This is really great but there's not that much software support for the OS. I'm still stuck with running Paralells on my Mac because I need Windows so that I may run Microsoft's really great Office products.

Linux is an extremely stable and ultra configureable environment in which everything is free and open source. The problem with open source, however, is that it's NOT EASY TO USE. The average user isn't gonna want to install a piece of software and, when it doesn't work correctly, go hacking around in the teriminal for hours on end, perusing forums to locate the answer to their issue. If you are an advanced UNIX user with years of experience then this doesn't seem like any big deal BECAUSE YOU'RE USED TO IT! Guess what, though, generally people aren't as geeky as you or I.

UNIX and Linux are both great operating systems quite well suited to be server platforms. This is probably their strongest selling point because you can pretty much set them and forget them. They have minimal security holes and are built on a massively stable kernel.

The point is, there's no point to arguing which OS is better because they ALL have their place in the world of computing. They all do. Don't try to push your favorite OS on others, just let them in on the particular OS's strengths or weaknesses or the deployment of such an OS that would achieve maximum leverage for the task. Don't be a fanboy! Nobody likes them.

Rant complete.