Operating System Comparison
Before we begin, these are exclusively my opinions and are based on my workflows. I have been using each of these operating systems for years; I mainly grew up with Windows and installed Windows 10 Technical Preview a full year before the public got to use it, I’ve built countless hackintoshes and daily driven Macs throughout college, and I have custom built desktops for every mainstream Linux distro and then some. Currently, I use all three regularly, although if you held me at gunpoint I would say my main daily driver carry is a thoroughly customized Ubuntu/Gnome (Linux).
Also, for the sake of this comparison, I’m going to be comparing fairly stock Windows 10, fairly stock Catalina, and fairly stock Ubuntu/Gnome 19.10. I could customize the every loving $#!+ out of any of these and make them run brilliantly for any given task but thats not the point. This is a comparison of, hey I got a new laptop, I installed the operating system and basic programs for a task, how does it compare?
✘ marks the spot and is the winner for each category. I tried to pick one for everything unless it was just too neck and neck to call.
| Use Case | Windows | Mac | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Word Processing | ✘ | ✘ | |
| Web Browsing | ✘ | ||
| ✘ | |||
| Photo Editing | ✘ | ||
| Video Editing | ✘ | ||
| Web Development | ✘ | ✘ | |
| Programming | ✘ | ✘ | |
| Software Library | ✘ | ||
| Package Manager | ✘ | ||
| Virtual Machines | ✘ | ||
| Gaming | ✘ | ||
| CADing | ✘ | ||
| Messaging | ✘ | ||
| Desktop Interface | ✘ | ||
| File Manager | ✘ | ||
| Keyboard Shortcuts | ✘ | ||
| Security | ✘ | ||
| Drivers | ✘ | ||
| Remote Management | ✘ | ||
| Control | ✘ | ||
| Settings | ✘ | ||
| Total Wins | 3 | 10 | 11 |
Word Processing
Winner - Windows, Mac
While I sincerely appreciate Libre Office and have typed countless documents on it (shoutout to predictive typing), Microsoft Word is still just the defacto standard in the world. Its had years and years of polishing, and runs great on Mac too.
Web Browsing
Winner - Mac
Honestly this should be a tie given how ubiquitous web browsers are. I think I’m only giving this to Mac because of how enjoyable the giant trackpad and swipe gestures are while laying in bed.
Winner - Mac
I adore the built in Mac mail client. It works flawlessly with Gmail and Outlook accounts, its clean and intutive. It can do the complex stuff, but without ruining its simplicity.
Photo Editing
Winner - Mac
Linux is close on the heels but I give this to Mac purely for how useful Preview is. Preview replaces a couple of apps I use on Linux for the same result. For anything more, GIMP runs on all three just fine.
Video Editing
Winner - Mac
Like photo editing, Mac wins just because the built in editor is great for the simple stuff. For anything more than iMovie, I turn to Davinci Resolve which works perfectly on all three.
Web Development
Winner - Mac, Linux
Big surprise here, a programming niche that is easier on a Unix system. Ease in coding is definitely pushes Linux ahead, but little photo edits and the ability to test on Firefox, Chrome, and Safari put Mac back in the contest.
Programming
Winner - Mac, Linux
As long as it runs the bash shell natively it has my vote. Vim, VSCode, IntelliJ all run great on Mac and Linux.
Software Library
Winner - Mac
In this case, I’m talking about the default software centers. While Ubuntu’s software center has tons of great open source stuff that no other platform has, I have to give it to the good old App Store for its clean interface and easy to install/uninstall apps. The Windows Store is disguistingly bloated and malicious.
Package Manager
Winner - Linux
Brew (Mac) gives Apt (Ubuntu) and Pacman (Arch) a run for their money but in the end this is hands down Linux. I absolutely love that installing anything, say VLC is just a sudo apt intall vlc literal 10 seconds away. So unbelievably efficient :)
Virtual Machines
Winner - Linux
My software of choice, VMWare Player, only works on Linux and Windows, although the paid version, Fusion, works great on Macs. Linux gets the win though because the native OS uses far less RAM, leaving me more headroom for the VMs.
Gaming
Winner - Windows
I appreciate and honor the support of Valve and others to promote gaming on Linux, and it is good, but nothing beats the operating system that devs always design for. Mac isn’t even in the same galaxy.
CADing
Winner - Windows
Truthfully, most stuff I work on today I can get by with Onshape which is browswer based (huge shoutout, y’all are amazing), but if I need the horsepower, there is only one choice to run Solidworks or Autodesk.
Messaging
Winner - Mac
Yep, pretty much every messaging app I use, discord, telegram, and occasionally skype have native Mac apps. But the real winner is just iMessage, which is the primary reason I have hackintoshes, its great to leave running on the side.
Desktop Interface
Winner - Linux
Wow, I’m surprising myself, this used to be a landslide win for Mac. But the FOSS community stops for no one and boy is it a great experience these days. Gnome is lightweight, clean, and functions wonderfully. Plus it has all the snap to window support I desire.
File Manager
Winner - Linux
Hard to beat Ubuntu’s Nautilus, its basically perfect in my eyes. Super clean, easy to use, quick to navigate, the views are great, and when I need really advanced functionality, I can just right click and open the terminal. Windows over complicates the appearance and has small UI, MAC needs to learn a thing from Linux about directory navigation.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Winner - Linux
Its amazing to have a print screen button that actually just takes a bloody screenshot. Doesn’t temporarily store it on the clipboard, doesn’t need Command + Shift + Either 3 or 4 (I guess everytime Mac). The control button works like you would expect, and the Mod button is easily the best menu of the three. Open a program, see whats live, switch to another workspace in one button - yes please.
Security
Winner - Linux
Not even a contest with Windows viruses, and while Mac is better, it isn’t comprable to Linux where I’ve click on a billion shady things within Linux VMs and never so much as sniffed a virus.
Drivers
Winner - Linux
I mean, I unplug the hard drive, toss it in a new computer, and it just works. If you don’t think that isn’t magical you must be a dog. I am astounded by the number of things I’ve just plugged in and had work, no need for new software and guessing, it just works TM.
Remote Management
Winner - Linux
Easy to SSH into other things, easy to SSH into, simple to set up networked systems, easy to host networked systems… I mean, there is a reason most servers run Linux. Blowout victory.
Control
Winner - Linux
I had to add this category to describe how frustrating Windows and Mac can be at times. I’ve seen stuff in Windows where I can’t run it, despite being the ADMINISTRATOR of the computer. Mac sometimes requires 13 extra clicks through the settings menu to allow me to run something I clearly want to run. Plus, the cherry on top is Linux doesn’t give you default admin, it keeps you protected from self inflicted harm but makes complete control one simple sudo command away. The sugar on top of that cherry is not having to restart for updates in Linux and not feeling like the operating system is “strongly encouraging” me to do them now when I am working.
Settings
Winner - Mac
The settings menu hasn’t changed in years and I love the Apple logo for it. I know exactly where everything is (looking at you Windows and your THREE settings menus), and the search spotlighting function is awesome. Linux holds it own here but Mac’s long term consistency takes it home for me.
Conclusion
I’m somehow stunned yet not really, I did this excercise a few years back and I believe Mac won. But these results back up how I currently operate and how unbelievably good Linux has gotten. I’m really just so much faster on a Linux machine now and feel like Linux is just much much more efficient and useful. Its clean and simple where it should be and has more horsepower than the other two when I need it.
Also looking back at my table, I don’t think there is a category where Linux “lays an egg”. With Thunderbird now supporting Exchange emails, I don’t think any of the lemons from the last time I did this are present. Outside of some niche software like iMessage or heavy CAD software, it runs the table at above average. Maybe next time I will do this more quantitatively, just to see how much of a score gap there is.