Operating system advocacy

Operating system advocacy is one of the primary pastimes of those who have a deep and abiding interest in the design, construction and usage of computer operating systems. For these people, the investment necessary -- both in money and time -- to own and operate a computer sometimes creates an emotional investment in the operating system of choice. Such advocacy can induce arguments as people compare and contrast the virtues and faults of different operating systems.

These visceral debates most notably include:

Windows vs. Mac OS
Windows vs. Linux
Linux vs. BSD
Linux and BSD vs. proprietary UNIX systems.
terminology: "Linux" vs. "GNU/Linux"

Some wars of the past related to VMS vs. UNIX systems.

There are related wars over programming languages and text editors (emacs vs vi; see Editor war).

Here are some of the arguments, false or otherwise, which advocates of supposedly opposing operating systems may use.

Table of contents

1 Desktop Systems

1.1 Microsoft Windows

1.1.1 Pro
1.1.2 Con

1.2 Apple Mac OS X

1.2.3 Pro
1.2.4 Con

1.3 Linux

1.3.5 Pro
1.3.6 Con

2 Server Systems

2.4 Microsoft Windows

2.4.7 Pro
2.4.8 Con

2.5 Linux

2.5.9 Pro
2.5.10 Con

2.6 Solaris Operating Environment by Sun Microsystems

2.6.11 Pro
2.6.12 Con

2.7 FreeBSD

2.7.13 Pro
2.7.14 Con

2.8 NetBSD

2.8.15 Pro
2.8.16 Con

2.9 OpenBSD

2.9.17 Pro
2.9.18 Con

2.10 Mac OS/OS X Server

2.10.19 Pro
2.10.20 Con

Desktop Systems

Microsoft's business practices (anticompetitive, privacy-invading)
feature limitations
high cost
chilling corporate monotony
primary applications from Microsoft discourage third-party alternatives
frequently targeted by malicious crackers, worms and viruses

Apple Mac OS X

Estimated market share: 5-10%

Audience: education (30-50%), arts (graphic design, video/film editing, sound editing), science.

Pro

productive and intuitive
easy to use and learn
simplicity
reliability
underlying BSD-based operating system provides many of the benefits of UNIX or Linux, including command line utilities and the ability to run many UNIX programs
Many Unix tools and applications (such as mySQL) are being or have been ported to run under OS X
"iApps" - iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, etc. - high quality applications included with OS
flexibility in dealing with various workloads
emotional appeal
lower support cost
increasing compatibility with Windows and Linux
frequently has the newest technologies (802.11, FireWire, USB) first
responsive, supportive user community
total cost of ownership is low
aesthetic design (both hardware and software)
very understandable, integrated system
"single-source" OS, cpu, and major apps ensures better compatibility
rarely targeted by malicious hackers, worms and viruses
rapid, reliable response from Apple with security software patches.
rapid application development, bundled integrated development environment

Con

relatively small market-share compared to Microsoft Windows
hardware architecture (only runs on Apple's proprietary hardware)
fewer programs or hardware devices
higher initial costs
slower computers until recently (see G5)
iApps discourage third party development of core applications
sometimes not taken seriously in a Windows crowd

Linux

Estimated market share: 2-5%

Audience: information technology, computer science, software engineers, educators, cost-saving measure used by companies and governments.

Pro

low cost (free on most distributions)
high flexibility and freedom
low cost to change to
open source results in good design
much support
lovable hobbyist atmosphere
large community
With desktop managers such as KDE and GNOME, Linux offers a graphical user interface more like the MacOS/Windows interface, in addition to the traditional Unix command line.
Many Free or otherwise gratis software packages offer the functionality of programs available on the other desktop operating systems.
almost never targeted by worms and viruses;
GNU/Linux is a Free Software operating system, which gives you the freedom to access, modify and redistribute the source code of any part of it.

Con

missing features

lack of formal support in free versions

supposedly has hidden costs

supposed difficulty of migration

small market-share

lack of closed-source applications (this can also be seen as a pro)

desktop managers widely seen as too geek-oriented and not user-oriented; supposedly difficult to use compared with commercial GUIs.

many essential tools lack consistency in syntax or semantics, undermining ease of learning (learning to use a new tool can become a "research project")

some powerful tools (e.g. the shell) are unnecessarily complicated

initial setup process varies greatly among distributions

incomplete hardware support (USB, Firewire, "Winmodems", some video cards etc.) Linux drivers are often neglected by hardware manufacturers, adoption of newest technologies is relatively slower than proprietary systems.
lack of significant multilingual features. In languages other than English, Linux market size is significantly smaller.
no standard GUI (although this too can be seen as an advantage)

Some people think Linux and Unix are targeted by hackers from information on the Internet, but when a Linux or Unix user refers to hacking, they often are talking about editing a program. These people usually refer to malicious hackers as crackerss.

ease of configuration
corporate management personnel tend to be more comfortable with it ("nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft")

Con

expensive software licenses
difficult to move configuration from one machine to another: nearly all configuration is done through a GUI often making it difficult to do repetitive changes to multiple machines.
frequently exploited by malicious hackers, worms and viruses
stability often problematic (low uptime)
low performance
need recent, expensive hardware to be able to run recent versions
low security and slow fixes

Linux

Pro

actual cost in currency can be low
freedom (open source)
stability
diverse hardware support
Due to being open source and other factors, Linux is the most rapidly-progressing operating system in existence
It supports more hardware platforms than any other operating system (except perhaps NetBSD)
For a moderately skilled administator, ease of installation, management, and support are other advantages
Its support of almost every file system in use makes it especially good for mixed-platform environments
Finally, the negligible cost of acquisition combined with undemanding hardware requirements result in a very low total cost of ownership (TCO)
Most configuration is done by editing text files greatly contributing the ease of automated maintenance or large scale repetitive changes
GNU/Linux is a Free Software operating system, which gives you the freedom to access, modify and redistribute the source code of any part of it.

Con

Most configuration is done by editing text files (often using a console-based editor if the X Window System / the default windows manager will not load) or using command-line utilities; Windows and Macintosh GUI users may find this cumbersome; system administration usually must be performed by someone who is familiar with these files and utilities (compared to Windows or Mac OSX where many server admin tasks may be "point-and-click"). (GUI admin utilities exist but are neither standardized nor commonly used.)
While all command-line tools have some documentation in the form of online manual pages, these help documents are usually just technical references; the purchase of a well-written book on Linux system administration is almost always necessary

Solaris Operating Environment by Sun Microsystems

Pro

Rock solid for enormous (enterprise in the jargon) workloads
Long history of success

Con

high cost
Expensive for small workloads because Solaris OE does not run nearly as well on PC hardware as it does on Sun hardware, which is expensive
Support from Sun is expensive

FreeBSD

Pro

no cost
high degree of freedom
much support
design coherence
long, proven history of reliability
BSDs have a unified kernel and userland: the kernel and userland are specifically tested (and versioned) for each other. This, along with the coherent, no-surprise directory structure, gives an excellent sense of a well-designed system
The ports tree makes for a very easy way to download new software: locating, configuring, compiling, recursive dependency handling are all taken care of
Re-building system software is also exceedingly easy with the automated world-building tools
Linux compatibility lets you run Linux binaries manufacturers didn't see fit to release as source or with a FreeBSD binary
Excellent speed and stability
Most configuration is done by editing text files, greatly contributing the ease of automated maintenance or large scale repetitive changes
Great effort goes into documentation; the man pages are generally complete and helpful, and the FreeBSD Handbook is a good resource that is available for free

Con

Most configuration is done by editing text files (often using a console-based editor) or using command-line utilities; Windows and Macintosh GUI users may find this cumbersome; system administration usually must be performed by someone who is familiar with these files and utilities (compared to Windows or Mac OSX where many server admin tasks may be "point-and-click"). (GUI admin utilities exist but are neither standardized nor commonly used.)
While all command-line tools have some documentation in the form of online manual pages, these help documents are usually just technical references

NetBSD

Pro

no cost, high degree of freedom, etc
Portability: NetBSD's slogan is "Of course it runs NetBSD!" While FreeBSD focuses exclusively on the i386 architecture and its successors, NetBSD has gradually increased the number of supported platforms
It has a long, proven history of reliability

Con

NetBSD is widely ported, but finding a recent distribution for obscure architectures can be difficult
Most configuration is done by editing text files (often using a console-based editor) or using command-line utilities; Windows and Macintosh GUI users may find this cumbersome; system administration usually must be performed by someone who is familiar with these files and utilities (compared to Windows or Mac OSX where many server admin tasks may be "point-and-click"). (GUI admin utilities exist but are neither standardized nor commonly used.)
While all command-line tools have some documentation in the form of online manual pages, these help documents are usually just technical references; the purchase of a well-written book on BSD system administration is a necessity

OpenBSD

Pro

OpenBSD is the most secure free Unix, using integrated cryptography and proactive security measures, including extensive security auditing
It is free, and supports a variety of hardware platforms.
It has a long, proven history of reliability

Con

Some users who run into problems dislike the personality of the system's maintainer, Theo de Raadt
Some critics say that most of OpenBSD's security is just due to the fact that the operating system is installed with almost every daemon turned off by default; the minute you turn on various services, you are no less vulnerable than you were with other BSDs

Mac OS/OS X Server

Pro

Like OSX, Mac OS X Server is based, in part, on BSD, but with a "friendlier" GUI
The webserver is Apache
The latest (Panther) mail server is Postfix
Other UNIX-based server tools are available
User management is based on NeXT's NetInfo but compatible with LDAP

Con

Command-line users may dislike the GUI management tools; though the command-line tools are available, it may be difficult to determine what actions GUI tools are taking
Macintosh and Windows NT/2K/XP users may dislike having to occasionally edit configuration files by hand
Mac OS X Server does not have as long a history of reliability like BSD and Linux

Note that market share can refer to either new sales or to installed base, which give very different numbers. This kind of information should be spelled out by people with a comprehensive picture.
Because Macintosh computers have a longer usage lifetime than Windows computers, their installed base is greater than their share of new sales.
Also, market share numbers for market segments. For example, the market share for Linux in the server market is much higher than for the desktop market.
One definition of the term "market share" refers to the dollar value of new sales. Because Linux is free software, many copies are freely redistributed outside the economic market.
Since most desktop and notebook computers sold by the big OEM companies are sold with the "Windows Tax", this could increase the Windows market-share artificially since the user could very well use another OS instead.
cost can mean either Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or the actual amount of currency required to obtain the operating system, which is a more precise and less disputed definition.