Mac Vs. Linux, My opinion : Part II

I felt that it was time for me to follow up on my previous article "Mac Vs. Linux, My opinion". I do still, day-to-day use a mac next to two linux systems. I feel in this regard, I have justification for my opinion.

Again to preface, I have used linux for much longer than mac (everyday). As a result I learned over the years to use my linux in a windows heavy environment without much disruption or laments from my co-workers in regards to interoperablity.

For work purposes, both efficiency of activity and for productivity within the applicaitons I still find that linux is my prefered environment. I should say that the gap that is software, which once was very wide, is no where near that wide anymore. Much of that may have to do with my office's adoption of open source software.

I have to say that I prefer linux more now still for the double ease of use of the clipboard and having two available. One accessible via highlight and mouse-wheel click and the other using the classic ctrl+c and ctrl+v.

The second point that keeps me on a linux desktop is the ease of use and speed of virtual desktops in linux. Mac does now have spaces (same function) but there is no customization available and it is sluggish in comparison to my linux system.

The third aspect of linux that I still prefer to mac is that it is much easier to migrate information to the lowest common denominator: TEXT. Mac works fine with text and is useful in the terminal app, but on linux the transition from terminal to a gui application requires very little effort on the part of the user.

Lastly, of no consequence to efficiency, would be theme customization. With the new Ubuntu (9.10) and following the additional themes I installed using the instructions at this long post on "The Silent Number" (new fav is 'Night Impressions') I have found the view of my linux system is something that I can change to easily based on tasks or system and with something like NBR (netbook remix) I can completely alter the function of my desktop any time I care too. This is not an impossible task on the mac, but for sure isn't as easy.

The ace in the hole that mac still has is that the performance of VMware Fusion is great on the mac. Like that I can still have access to any other operating system that I need/prefer since I am very much about using the correct tool for the correct work. I won't use this as a "freedom" platform, this is just a direct 1-to-1 comparison while I have both systems side-by-side in my life.

Both will continue to be in my workspace and work-flow. I hope in the future to have relevant follow-ups to this series of articles.

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CafeNinja