Windows, Unix and Macs Oh My (All OSes are Welcome)

[sysprog]

Computation history is cluttered with variants, by-roads, successes and failures. I really like UNIX/C as an engineer and scientist but mainly use Windows for home computing. $-$ @Klystron

 

[strangerep]

[...] but mainly use Windows for home computing. $-$ @Klystron

I'm a Unix/Linux/C++ expert and I use Linux at home (a totally Windows-free zone).

Life is too short to spend any part of it being Bill Gates' towel boy.

 

[PeterDonis]

I'm a Unix/Linux/C++ expert and I use Linux at home

Same here. I can't say my home is totally Windows free since I develop apps some of whose users are on Windows so I have to be able to test on that platform. But I haven't used Windows for any of my own personal needs for close to 20 years now.

 

[sysprog]

Same here. I can't say my home is totally Windows free since I develop apps some of whose users are on Windows so I have to be able to test on that platform. But I haven't used Windows for any of my own personal needs for close to 20 years now.

One of my CICS clients (a good boss in charge of over 80 CICS regions running on a 12-way Amdahl box) in the '90s liked OS2 for his home use $-$ he regarded it to be a proper operating system $-$ he observed that it had 'real objects' on the desktop instead of just 'shortcuts'.

 

[PeterDonis]

in the '90s liked OS2 for his home use

So did I. I thought it was a much superior programming environment to Windows, not to mention having many of the same security features as Unix--while Windows was still being built on top of DOS, where any program could touch any part of the system with no protection whatever. Unfortunately it was being marketed (if that's even the word for it) by IBM, who had already handed the PC market to Microsoft on a platter, twice (once with DOS and once with Windows), because they still believed mainframes were a thing, and there simply wasn't enough of a market for OS/2 apps to attract developers--they were all developing for Windows because that's what all the large corporations were migrating their office environments to.

 

[Klystron]

I'm a Unix/Linux/C++ expert and I use Linux at home (a totally Windows-free zone).

Life is too short to spend any part of it being Bill Gates' towel boy.

I completely respect your position and admire C-variant engineers

First tried UNIX helping other programmers rebuild PDP-8/11 kernels to run the then-new OS, mainly writing DCL interfaces and device drivers. C (and Fortran 77) revolutionized NASA's Standardized Wind Tunnel System. OS written in C. Sublime. Adore K&R.

Director asked me to manage DEC VAX servers running VMS. PDP UNIX servers ran data collection with 8 programmers. VAX VMS ran everything else with two SE's. We knew VMS had no future but duty called.

IMS I lugged an Adams word processor home to write publications and reports. Ruined my vision using floppy IBM PC's for office work. Later used Apples, Mac's, even a Lisa. Woz was a good person but Mac's, while cool, were slow, tiny monitor and lacked network and storage. Years later, NASA adopted Windows UI and improved PC's. Never knew Gates but thought DOS clever kludge, Windows (other than NT) was a joke but serviceable.

I was issued Sun Microsystems workstations later running Solaris at work and home, followed by Silicon Graphics workstation at home also running UNIX for programming. Built PC's for family finances and flight simulator at home. When I left Ames for another think tank, friends gave me Linux CD for my PC.

I kept the pattern of Solaris and SGI workstations at work and Windows PC at home with Linux also installed. Masters program at uni used Next network running NT. Slick but unsecure. I forget other OS, languages and UI's I used. Whatever system needed attention. Hence my 'computation history' one-liner.

None of this answered the non-programmer OP except
UNIX / C good for work and school,
Windows OK for home applications.

I attempt to stay out of still simmering OS 'religious wars'. Whatever works. Pax.

 

[DaveE]

So did I. I thought it was a much superior programming environment to Windows, not to mention having many of the same security features as Unix--while Windows was still being built on top of DOS, where any program could touch any part of the system with no protection whatever. Unfortunately it was being marketed (if that's even the word for it) by IBM, who had already handed the PC market to Microsoft on a platter, twice (once with DOS and once with Windows), because they still believed mainframes were a thing, and there simply wasn't enough of a market for OS/2 apps to attract developers--they were all developing for Windows because that's what all the large corporations were migrating their office environments to.

This reminds me of the laser system we built in the 1990's sometime. It had a PC terminal for control and the SW manager hated Bill Gates and everything about him. So he chose Smalltalk on OS/2. Clearly he cared more about the purity of CS than making money for shareholders. If you learn one thing from Silicon Valley it should be to back the ultimate winner in the marketplace, even if they are jerks with an imperfect product (BTW, they're all jerks, IMO). We weren't even a SW company for christ's sake. Part of the decision to kill the product was the expense required later to port that over to something you could buy, something with support, something that our customers wouldn't complain about.

 

[jedishrfu]

From the writings of Wikipedia:

A timeline of OS platforms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_operating_systems

 

[jedishrfu]

Just found this Register article on non-C based OS platforms:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/29/non_c_operating_systems/

 

[JT Smith]

For years I worked with Microsoft OS based computers. I grew to really dislike then and this displeasure drove me to invest in their competitor, Apple, who at the time looked like a long shot at best. So I have the evils of Microsoft to thank for the significant financial gain I have since enjoyed.

More recently, after upgrading the OS on my Mac (I switched teams), I needed to also upgrade my copy of Excel. I knew Microsoft sold a non-subscription version but, boy, they sure made it hard to find on their website. In order to give them my $150 they required me to create an account. They asked for my birth date, which I felt was unnecessary information. So I entered the current date. And then they said I needed a parent to complete the transaction because I was too young to by a copy of their software. I tried to change the birth date but it was too late. They wouldn't take my money.

Frustrated, I did some searching and found an open source version of Office which, as it turns out, works well enough for my needs, even better in some ways. Excel was maddening at times and would crash frequently. The open source software is free and required nothing more than my pushing the "download" button. So once again, I have Microsoft to thank for putting money in my pocket.

 

[bigfooted]

I just walked to my 'cabinet of curiosities' to have a look at the CD of the first linux distribution that I installed. The date on the disc: "september 1996", the month that I started my studies at the university. It was a red hat distribution, but I remember it was a package that came together with slackware CDs as well. I had a dual-boot with windows for a couple of years because it was difficult to get games running and there wasn't a nice alternative (my opinion) to some windows software packages. After using suse for ~20 years, I have recently switched from opensuse to kubuntu, both excellent distributions imo.

 

[sbrothy]

I'm a Unix/Linux/C++ expert and I use Linux at home (a totally Windows-free zone).

Life is too short to spend any part of it being Bill Gates' towel boy.

Admittedly, some digital audio workstations only really work on Windoze. Reason and FLStudio for instance.And Microsoft Developer Studio is a nice IDE.

That was really hard to say as I'm also a die-hard Linux-fan. :)

[EDIT: oh yes, I know about Wine. But I have mixed experiences.]

 

[sandy stone]

From the writings of Wikipedia:

A timeline of OS platforms

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_operating_systems

That was interesting. Now for my confession: in my attic is an old copy of the original version of OS/9, as well as a computer able to run it. I can't bring myself to get rid of it, since it was so cool at the time.