Operating systems is a controversial topic within Epix System’s since there are a few OS’s floating around. The one that holds a majority is Ubuntu which is a distribution of Linux. This is quite a popular OS for software development along with other technical fields since Linux allows you to really change the way the OS works. With support for almost all programming languages,
inbuilt support for SSH (allows you to securely login to computers remotely). it also has great community support from various forums which have personally helped me multiple times when troubleshooting simple to complicated problems that I’ve had.
We also have one Windows 10 user, but most of us also have a personal Windows device at home including myself. Windows is an OS I couldn’t live without, I don’t see myself using Linux as my main OS because the main use for my personal computer is gaming which is possible on Linux however support for games is far greater on Windows PC’s. Windows 10 is far easier to use for the the average user however when it comes to a more technical workflow than a distribution of Linux will be allow you to be more productive.
Now this next section is probably going to be biased and all my opinion the main point is definitely true, which is to never buy a Apple Mac device (don’t buy an iPhone either but were not talking about mobiles today). We do have a Mac OS user with us in our office and his only redeeming factor is that he is an Android user as well so don’t hate him just yet. Mac OS may be a good OS that is a good competitor to Windows and is as intuitive and sometimes even more compared to Windows however there are still many flaws in the carnivorous ecosystem that is Apple. The main thing is the price, when Mike came to me to ask about what MacBook he should get the only one I could recommend was one that had the same specs as my laptop, however it was double the price, it may have been better than my laptop but not worth double the price. But that’s the price of entering the gates of apple, the cheapest MacBook you can buy is £1799 when an equivalent Windows laptop is only £1000, there the M1 Macs however I said we weren’t talking about mobile devices today. For me, Mac OS is even worse for gaming and not just because they don’t support Nvidia graphics cards any-more or because the graphics cards they do sell with their PC’s have a massive apple tax on them but rather because there isn’t a lot of support for games on Mac OS, there are a few but not many. There’s only one way to game on a Mac.
Overall, in my personal opinion as a software engineer who is also a PC gamer, Linux and Windows are my OS’s of choice, if I had to choose one I would choose Windows but I don’t think Ian would allow us to develop on Windows. Gaming is possible on Linux and it is getting better as there are many people around the world making it better. Linux and Windows will always be more accessible than Mac OS since they will always be better value especially if you decide to build your own PC even more so if you compare it to the extremely overpriced and underpowered Mac Pro. Mac OS is a good Operating System but I don’t see enough benefits over Windows.
