A PC User’s Review of Apple’s OS X
February 16, 2005 – 10:40 pmAdam sent me a link to an AnandTech review of Apple’s OS X, and I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Granted, the review is of a dual 2GHz G5 system, but the reviewer spends a great deal of time discussing OS X and its various advantages and disadvantages compared with Windows XP.
The review is well written with an exquisite focus on the details of use of the operating system, and I appreciate the attention the reviewer placed on these details. The most significant quibble I have with the review has absolutely nothing to do with OS X or Appple in any way. The author says,
“People used to complain about Windows NT/2000 as a server platform because of stability; we’ve actually had more outages on our Linux servers than on our Windows servers. Not saying that Linux is a bad OS, but we know our Windows servers, and we know what hardware works best under them…”
What? I understand attacking Linux for use on the desktop (even though I find it to be preferable over any flavor of Windows for my day-to-day use), but trying to insinuate that Windows servers are more stable than Linux servers? A complete wash in terms of stability is one thing, but claiming Windows is more stable? I have been exposed to both operating systems running on a server (and I run the Linux servers for our lab), and I just find the reviewer’s above claim to be patently ridiculous.
Besides that complaint, I found the article to be a very entertaining (though quite lengthy) read. I suggest it if you have any interest in the look and feel of Apple’s OS X.
2 Responses to “A PC User’s Review of Apple’s OS X”
A few comments Jeff:
1) Read the other articles that I sent to you. The first two are about using OSX, the last two are about the Mac mini.
2) Some Linux distros are better than others. A good Linux distro will be rock solid for more than a year. A bad one will make Windows look as solid and as easy to use as a piece of diamond. I don’t know which distro they claimed to have trouble with.
3) While the people at Anandtech are not always right, nor do I always agree with them, they are one of the best tech review sites that I’ve found.
By Adam on Feb 16, 2005 at 11:07 pm
1) I just read the second article and posted about it. I plan on reading the others you sent too.
2) Agreed. I just found it fishy that someone who is as familiar with the various platforms as AnandTech reviewers seem to be would go to the extent of calling Windows a more stable server platform than Linux. I know the comment was made by the reviewer in passing, but it seemed to be a stretch.
3) Agreed. A pleasant find. Thanks again for the links.
By jjk on Feb 17, 2005 at 11:50 pm