Most Reliable OS?

[FourBear]

What is the most reliable operating system? I think Windows is especially buggy, but I'm not sure about Mac, Linux, etc, because I don't have much experience with them. Which one has the least crashes, is less buggy, and is more reliable overall?

[Mike]

Windows has never really been buggy/crashy with me. Running Ubuntu on my spare laptop sometimes gives me headaches, just randomly freezing, but it's kinda old and beat up, so that can be expected. :P

[Tim]

I've never tried a mac, but in general, I think Linuxes have been more reliable than my Windowses (sometimes :P)

[keith]

For me, there is NO such thing as a reliable operating system. It's the END-USER that is unreliable, that's all.

The only problem you can't get an operating to work on your system, is because you don't know the fundamentals working behind the building of those operating systems.

Anyway, if anyone is critical of Windows. Might as well, you stick back to Windows 3.1 and Dos 6.2. Softwares will always keep on going.

[Johan]

Keith's opening sentence is very true indeed. Thoguh as a tech savvy, security aware geek I can attest that my powerbook with Mac OS X has experienced much less hassle then my Win XP box. I also like Ubuntu by the way, haven't had any issues with that OS either.

If you just want to browse, chat, e-mail and do some word processing/office stuff - I'd go Ubuntu. For games you're still stuck with Windows probably. If you don't mind spending on Mac hardware and would like the best of all worlds combined, I'd say MAC OS!

[capitalist_junkie]

I've always thought that Windows 98 was really reliable. Otherwise, I'm quite the Linux fan myself.

[keith]

I've always thought that Windows 98 was really reliable. Otherwise, I'm quite the Linux fan myself.

Windows 98 is quite a good piece of OS; in fact I would choose that over Windows ME. Well, unfortunately time has change, and Microsoft no long support that, so there are lots of drivers not available for Windows 98 anymore.

[capitalist_junkie]

Yeah, that really is a shame.

ME was the absolute worst OS in history, in my opinion. I'm curious as to what Vista will be like.

[keith]

Yeah, that really is a shame.

ME was the absolute worst OS in history, in my opinion. I'm curious as to what Vista will be like.

Vista is expected to take the world by storm, unfortunately the operating system was made to be so much resource-hungry, such that you'll need a powerful graphic card in order to run Aero Glass, supposedly one of the prime feature in Vista.

Meanwhile, Windows XP is still the safest bet at this point in time, furthermore there are lots of support for XP. Will take a wee while before Vista comes into the market.

[clvezlys]

Well, if by reliable you mean stable - the younger the os is, the less leftaway junk from the previous versions it has. You could check out dragonflyBSD (based on freeBSD 4). And if you mean safe - OS X and Sun's SOLARIS are safe because they are hardly used, and so, it's unpractical to attack them, and there is of course openBSD, probably the safest (created with safety in mind)

[amitpatel_3001]

Iam with windows XP :) and waiting for the Free Windows Vista DVD from Microsoft (http://www.ambatchdotcomseocontest.us/free-vista-microsoft-windows-vista-from-microsoft-at-shipped-to-your-home.html)

[smrtdrmmr]

I am a software engineer and have worked with all flavors of Windows, many flavors of Linux/UNIX, and a couple versions of OSX. I am a Windows guy all the way, but for what it's worth I would have to say that OSX is probably the most stable for the ease factor. Linux is very consistent, but is too difficult to configure/maintain/setup for the most part. Windows is pretty unreliable, but makes the most sense to me in my mind. Many times I wish Windows stuff would just work like it should and like it would in OSX, but I have never found the OSX things to be really intuitive as far as how to access the filesystem. Linux has many cool capabilities, but has a higher learning curve for sure. In the end each has its pro's and con's but OSX is probably the most reliable for the the ease of use.

[krnk123]

i think tiger is the most stable right now, but i don't know about linux since i've never used one

[amitpatel_3001]

tiger :eek:
can someone share more info on that OS :-0

[asian_smith]

tiger is the best. macs are superior to pc's now in every aspect. not only can they run osx, they can run windows as well. it used to be that macs were more expensive than their competitors but there have been recent studies of macs vs dell pricing and it turns out that in many cases, the mac is the way to go.
if you are looking to get a new computer, go for a mac. i've had my ibook for 4 years now and it till runs all of my applications smoothly. apple also has unrivaled tech support. if you are looking to get a new computer, do yourself a favor, get a mac

[amitpatel_3001]

oh now i get it , its a MAC right.
here in india we have only Windows supported PC as fas as i know, so i think i have to import one ;)

[asian_smith]

i would highly reccomend it

[netwurkpunk]

I think Windows XP is the most stable OS I've used. I've had no problems with it at all (knock on wood).

[tokin]

tiger :eek:
can someone share more info on that OS :-0

tiger is equivalent to mac osx 10.4.x. it introduced dashboard, spotlight, and automator, as well as 200 more features and is based upon the darwin operating system and the mach kernel. it runs on apple machines only and, with the addition of an intel mac and boot camp, you can have the opportunity to run windows xp on the same box.

tiger provides the user with out-of-the box ease for setup. it's quite an excellent operating system (i just switched from winxp --> tiger and can't imagine going back) which has a beautiful interface. for more information, you could check out things at macrumors.com (http://guides.macrumors.com/Tiger) or apple.com (http://www.apple.com/macosx/)

[Studio717]

I hated Win98. As soon as I could, I upgraded my old desktop to WinXP Pro. The latter, ime, is much more stable - once you remove all the bits it doesn't play nice with. Just bought a new HP box with Media XP on it. So far, so good.

Frankly, I much prefer my macs. On my old pre-OS X systems, I did (and do) sometimes get a crash, but with my PPC PB and Tiger, it's remarkably stable. The only program I've had to Force-Quit lately is Firefox, and since I usually use Safari, that doesn't impact me much.

I'd have to say that there's some pretty bad coding on some programs out there (whatever OS flavor). It's not all user-error, imo.

[amitpatel_3001]

Well i never had any problems with XP, just waiting for Vista to be launched :)

[tokin]

i'm going to laugh hard when vista flops. the thing is a huge, lumbering beast of code which sucks up resources like no other. it will be a miracle if it sells well.

[azn1art]

Well I guess that's the reason they say it would be a minimum requirement to have 512mb of ram.. For me no need to worry since I have 1.5gb of ram :) even though its rare that I ever use that much memory.. I think the highest I ever used maybe 480.

[amitpatel_3001]

i'm going to laugh hard when vista flops. the thing is a huge, lumbering beast of code which sucks up resources like no other. it will be a miracle if it sells well.

How can you say that its a flop? :eek:

[Johan]

It's already a flop considering they scrapped half of the stuff they intended to launch. And it's over budget and late.

[amitpatel_3001]

It's already a flop considering they scrapped half of the stuff they intended to launch. And it's over budget and late.

Lets wait and see, iam sill waiting for the Free DVD microsoft promised ;)

[azn1art]

Lets wait and see, iam sill waiting for the Free DVD microsoft promised ;)

I just hope they do send out the dvds... I tried their usb promotion but they canceled the usb thing on me.. so I never got the usb drive...

[amitpatel_3001]

Damn i did apply for the USB one too, but never got a reply from them :(

[azn1art]

Well I applied for the DVD so I just really hope they send them... Also did you check your spam folder? The email they sent me ended up in the Spam Folder...

[amitpatel_3001]

haha same here :D seems they are spammers on their own hotmail servers :p

[tokin]

It's already a flop considering they scrapped half of the stuff they intended to launch. And it's over budget and late.

Lets not forget the security holes already found by hackers with like 20 hours of work... it's quite pathetic for a company that used to be on top of their shit like no one else.

[azn1art]

Well let's see... Bill Gates decided to step down from Microsoft so that messed them up a bit.. Atleast it's good that they are trying to find security holes before Vista is actually released.

[amitpatel_3001]

Seems everyone is cursing MS for Vista lol

[pastrychef]

Well, if by reliable you mean stable - the younger the os is, the less leftaway junk from the previous versions it has. You could check out dragonflyBSD (based on freeBSD 4). And if you mean safe - OS X and Sun's SOLARIS are safe because they are hardly used, and so, it's unpractical to attack them, and there is of course openBSD, probably the safest (created with safety in mind)

Wouldn't any coder who manages to inflict a serious virus to OS X gain instant fame? Wouldn't that be great motive?

I'm just tired of the excuse that OS X has a smaller installed base and hackers don't bother.

[tidiman07]

the most reliable OS has yet to be invented/discovered, because we dont like to work together. If all these OS programmers got together they could build what could become the 10 wonder of the world or somthing, how many are there anyway? lost count when they got to 5!

[clvezlys]

I'm just tired of the excuse that OS X has a smaller installed base and hackers don't bother.

Well, it's not that small, but let's view it from a hacker's perspective - he could write a virus for OS X and hope that his virus will find one before it's discovered and it'll get through the defences (a great percentage of Mac users are rather well educated in IT) and will do some damage. Or he can just write a windows virus - tons of windows PCs with stupid users, who are too lazy/stupid to protect their PCs properly. Tough choice.

And there is ofcourse the fact that apple fixes security breaches a lot faster than MS (i could find quite a few examples)

[Case]

Most "secure" OS out of the box is OSX but IMO a properly secured Windows box can be as equaly secured as a OSX box... now as for stable out of the box id say OSX being its sort of a monopoly when it comes to hardware and drivers so theres not as much as a incompatabulity issue that we find on the PC Windows platform... But a properly configured PC can be just as stable as a Apple box...

But i think the king of the too would have to be my sexy gentoo build :)

[Case]

Well, it's not that small, but let's view it from a hacker's perspective - he could write a virus for OS X and hope that his virus will find one before it's discovered and it'll get through the defences (a great percentage of Mac users are rather well educated in IT) and will do some damage. Or he can just write a windows virus - tons of windows PCs with stupid users, who are too lazy/stupid to protect their PCs properly. Tough choice.

And there is ofcourse the fact that apple fixes security breaches a lot faster than MS (i could find quite a few examples)

Thats not true... theres just diffrent userbase... Go to 2600 hackers confrence or the vegas hackers confrance you will see 85% of the users sitting on PC Archectecture theres plenty of security flaws that apple has just less out of the box... I wont lie that a brand new PC un tweaked fresh windows install has tons of security issues vs a OSX isntall fresh no tweaks nothing out of the box is more secure but BOTH have plenty of ways into them. Just so happens that more are publicized on Windows just because of its demographic not the user base.

Both OS's have its uses and each one has its pros and cons... there is no one all around clear winner its really based on what is good for the end user...

Like my self 85% of my work i do on a PC and does not perform as good on a OSX platform while when im in protools and Shake, im on a OSX box and is handeld much better vs the work i do in maya on a PC.

Mind you if i can help it im in *nix any way (gentoo is my weapon of choice) but its just the point that you dont use a butter knife to cut a steak you cut it with a steak knife while you dont use a steak knife to put creancheese on your bagel.

[clvezlys]

Well, but as you just mentioned, OS X is safer than untweaked PC. So what do you think, is there a highter chance for a user who can't tweak his computer to have PC and windows or Mac and OSX?

And stop your multiple posts Case.

[Case]

Well, but as you just mentioned, OS X is safer than untweaked PC. So what do you think, is there a highter chance for a user who can't tweak his computer to have PC and windows or Mac and OSX?

No what isaid OUT OF THE BOX PC will be less secure than OUT OF THE BOX OSX. Apple's main demographic is not the hard core computer geek that is more likely to have a PC with XP and/or *NIX Thus the reason there are more publacized exploits for the Windows platform than for Apple's but neither is perfect and both are not 100% secure...

If this was a question of only "security" and not what the system was goign to be used for by a not so tech savvy user id recomend a apple box... But if it was a not so tech savvy user that needed to dodo certin things that dont perform as well on a apple box than id tell them to get a Windows box and they will get tech savvy with time.

And stop your multiple posts Case.

QQ n00b

[AnTon1325]

Windows ME and Windows 95. They are WAY better than any of these fancy new OS's.

[jacubilloro]

Windows ME/95 better than any OS??? Nope, don't think so.
I've always been a windows user (I have to admit it) but about 3 months ago I changed to Linux Fedora C5 on my work PC. Later, I also installed Ubuntu Dapper on my home PC. Now, I'm a Linux user 90% of the time. Only 10% for windows (just because I have to use Visual C++ for college) and now that I'm considering getting a MacBook that percentage might get even smaller...

[Case]

lol he said 9x roflmao

[Hoomamooma]

Everyone always complains that Windows always crashes for them but I'm on the computer almost every day for several hours and I haven't had Windows crash in several years.

[Giorgi]

I guess most stable is Unix or Debian, there're lacking drivers though

[Case]

Gentoo!!! and get the drivers source compile it with the kernal

[Giorgi]

compile it with the kernal??? I am not KAMIKADZE u know

[Case]

Its not hard to do really give gentoo a try and follow the manual on thier site to do a kernal compile for your install you do that ill give you props

[jacubilloro]

Why is it better to compile a kernel vs a typical install?

[Giorgi]

Nop, I cant use Gentoo as I am conf. Server. Then I will need DirectAdmin to be installed on it, and they dont support Gentoo

[Case]

they wont give u phone support big deal it will work and if they give u a install that you can compile than compile it with gentoo's kernal will wtf pwn swear it will be the most stable install

[Giorgi]

Yep but look at these:

What kind of server do I need?



Operating System:



Redhat Linux 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 9.0
RedHat Fedora 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0
RedHat Enterprise / CentOS 3.x, 4.x (64-bit: 4.x only. BETA)
FreeBSD 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6.0, 6.1

Debian Sarge/Woody

and my support includes FREE INSTALL I dont want to mess around with DirectAdmin code, I m not expert :)

[Case]

only one way to learn and thats try and than when u fail fix it and keep trying till u do

[Giorgi]

Yes, thats the way I do things but I cant do experiments becouse I need to set up server up to the end of august, thats way I stick with Fedora Core 5

[Case]

Fedora isnt bad it dumbed down imo thats the thing with gentoo when doing a fresh compi;e you gotta do every thing by hand think its a awsome distro to learn from because of that

[Giorgi]

Yep, I will need to learn Linux anyway now. What would you recommend for begginer? Gentoo?

[Case]

gentoo is awsome but if u gotta work on a specific distro id use that distro

[Giorgi]

No I just want starting point

[Case]

Gentoo go for it :)

[Giorgi]

Okydocky I will try, I hope it has GUI

[Case]

what ever gui you want

[Giorgi]

does it has Graphical interface

[Case]

Any one that you want

[Giorgi]

Ok, Tnx. I will give a try then.

[Case]

Let me know how it goes... its fun times ahead

your proly gonna hate me later :)

I got a nifty thumb drive nix distro with all my exploit and hax stuff on it that will boot off any system bec if it dont support booting from a thumb rive i have a CD and a floppy to help boot from the USB drive :D

I have all my evil phun on all most any system bec of that

[Giorgi]

:D No, I will try untill I will do it, what about Knoppix? have u heard about it?

[Case]

screw knoppix didnt they dump it and rename it or some thing now?

[Case]

no wait im thinking of another distro

[Giorgi]

I think your thinkin about Mandriva

[Case]

No there was another one like knopix that was real popular had some hack stuff with it that got renamed to a diffrent name and new kernal..

[Giorgi]

Who needs so many distros anyway

[Case]

its all about options unlike windows and osx

[Giorgi]

Obions? whats that?

[Case]

its hard to type and heal in a 40 man raid :)

[Giorgi]

Oh, I see :D and what about that "40 man raid"? where do you work?

[Case]

im at home right now... Logged inot world of warcraft we finished up BWL tonight and AQ40

[Giorgi]

Oh I see, Playing on US servers? I hate any kind of MMORPG s

[Case]

I did too really WoW is the only one i actualy really like... dont care for the others much..

[Giorgi]

its kinda too loaded with graphic

[Case]

What do you mean?

[Giorgi]

I mean there are lots of colors :)

[Case]

what kind of reply is that? what the hell?

[Giorgi]

I cant explain it any detail :D I mean in game itself there is lots of colors used on one item

[Case]

i still dont get it.

[Giorgi]

just forget it :D

[Case]

if you say so...