Linux Better Than Mac OS X

Mac OS X seems to make it easy surf the net or play music, but anything more advanced, such as installing a database server, needs to be done through command line (Unix) with no package manager.

I might be missing something, but why are these things so popular. Is it because most users for these things don’t really need to do anything more than play music? Well, most users do not install database servers on their Macs, so that’s why they’re popular.

There are a lot of reasons to like Macs. They’re pretty to many people. The hardware-software integration is tight. The animation is smooth (I’ve used Compiz, no comparison). If you rely on Adobe PhotoShop or Flash to make a living, it’s much easier to install those on the Mac than through Wine on Linux.

The bottom line, though, is that it doesn’t make sense to say Linux is much better than Mac or that Mac is much better than Linux. People should just find the operating system that works best for their own needs and preferences. For you, it’s clearly not Mac OS X.

Mac OS X is famous for its friendliness, but it falls short in many other aspects. Find out why Linux is superior in everything from flexibility to portability to cost as below:

Flexibility
Mac OS X is very much like Windows. You get what you bought for and there’s not much you can do with it. If you don’t like the layout of the desktop, you can move the Dock to either side, you can shrink it, or you can make it auto-hide. You can also add third-party applications and themes the desktop. Beyond that, you’re out of radar.

Linux is a different story. You don’t want the Gnome interface but you like nautilus. No problem. Linux can pretty much take any configuration you throw at it. And if you still don’t like what you have, install a different desktop or window manager and you’re good to go.

Open source
One of the biggest issues is the license. Apple took a BSD kernel to create its own Darwin kernel. Then, Apple created OpenDarwin, which was a collaborative effort between Apple and the open source community. However its failed. In 2007, PureDarwin was created to continue the work that was developed with OpenDarwin. The PureDarwin project has come a long way and can even run Linux-based window managers (such as Enlightenment).

Command line
Most power users know the command line is crucial to serious administrative tasks. In this aspect, Mac OS X falls way short of Linux. With Linux, you can do pretty much everything you need from the command line. What about installing via command line? What about command-line security? What about starting/stopping services from the command line?

Security
The Mac OS X might enjoy a smaller installed base than Windows does, meaning there’s less of a lure for malicious hackers, but Linux blows them both away when it comes to security.

Permission Issue; Linux users are not automatically given administrator privileges on their computers, meaning that viruses and malware don’t automatically have access to everything. So, when a computer is compromised, the most the malware can typically do is damage the user’s local files and programs only.

Linux simply is better equipped in the area of security. How? With tools like iptables, Apparmor and SELinux, Linux can lock down in many ways, on many levels. So you take a similar kernel but you add to that kernel-level tools to heighten security, and you can quickly see how Linux overpowers OS X in the area of security.

Customizability
With Linux, you can have a desktop experience on every level. You can have the full-on, experience similar to OS X with either GNOME or KDE. Or you can go to the complete opposite and use the console as your desktop. Or you can experience anything and everything in between the two.

Linux, virtually everything is customizable and configurable, so that you can make pretty much everything the way you want it to be. Don’t like the GNOME and KDE desktop that Ubuntu comes with? Try LXDE then, or XFCE! The choice really is yours, as it should be. When you’re using the Apple desktop, OS X is in control. When you use the Linux desktop, you are in control.

Hardware
The fact that OS X like Windows is very restrictive in the hardware that it will work with, requiring pretty much the latest and greatest hardware to run well. Linux on the other hand, is its capability to run on just about anything.

There are even distributions of Linux designed for really limited computing environments, such as Puppy Linux and Damn Small Linux. With OS X, Apple tells you what hardware you must have; with Linux, you tell it what you’ve got and go from there. Obviously Linux can run on lesser powered machines by default.

Reliability
Systems crashes and downtime are pretty much a fact of life when you’re a Mac user, but Linux offers a completely different experience. Many Linux users, in fact, have never experienced unplanned downtime. No wonder, then, Linux is so often the operating system of choice on servers.

Cost
Macs? Not so much, they’re even higher-priced than Windows machines. Linux is free. Period. You can have an office-ready Linux machine that will tackle most every task you put to it for the cost of the hardware alone. So if you’re looking to cut costs (and who isn’t, in this economy?), Linux is the way to go.

Sure, there are proprietary vendors who will try to convince you that Linux’s long-term total cost of ownership is higher. That, is just a myth.

Software
This may come as a surprise to you, but Linux has far more software available than Mac OS X. In a completely unscientific test, I did a search for both Linux and Mac OS X on sourceforge.net.

Conclusion
There are also numerous studies confirming Linux’s cost advantages. Then, of course, there’s evidence in the form of governments and organizations around the globe turning to Linux in growing numbers every day.

No operating system is perfect, of course. But Linux has so many advantages over its desktop competitors that any business enterprise would be remiss not to give it a chance.

jonboy60

I’m a Malaysian, my name is Jon Loh (jonboy60) living in Kuala Lumpur and working in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Jonboy60.com is a blog magazine about Linux and other open source softwares. All about to a daily jobs or real life experiences I had since the year 2002 administrating Linux and Windows server in a hosting company. Basically i will be offering Linux tips, howto, tricks, latest news and tutorial. Contact Me for Career opportunities, business offers, Linux solutions for business or home, web and email server solutions, Linux consulting and expertise requests. Email to me on jonboy60{@}gmail.com. The site I’m running is VenCouture.com – Malaysia Online Fashion Shopping Boutique, VenCouture. We sell fashion clothes, sexy lingeries, baby clothing and etc.