While the war of the OSes continues, I’ll try to bring forth the good and bad of each! Here are a few facts about operating systems. Today, the market is dominated by Microsoft’s Windows, followed by Apple’s Mac OS X, which is a strong contender. And finally by Linux-based operating systems. That said, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of each of these platforms. This will come in handy when you are trying to choose which is best for you.

Windows
Microsoft’s Windows OS has owned the lion’s share of the market in PCs for a long time now, but with the rise of mobile operating systems, it has lost favour to the Linux-based Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems.

Pros
1. Everything works on Windows. Well, almost everything. Still, when it comes to compatibility, neither Mac nor Linux can boast better records.
2. Finding support for problems in Windows is very easy. That said, Mac and Linux aren’t far behind, but simply by the volume of users it has, there is much more help available for Windows.
3. Features and functionality is another segment that Windows has been known for. The other two are catching up very fast though.

Cons
1. Being the most popular OS, it is also the most attacked. Hence, there are many viruses and other forms of malware for Windows.
2. Windows OS eats a lot of your system’s resources and makes it slow. In fact, Windows Vista and Windows 7 can easily be called the slowest of them all.
3. It’s proprietary and so comes at a cost.

Macintosh
What many newbies don’t know is that the Macintosh OS is actually older than Windows. In fact, Apple’s platform was the first ever successful graphical-based operating system and it was released a year before Windows.

Pros
1. Mac does not get viruses. This is one of the biggest USPs of the platform. Because of its lesser market share, there aren’t many viruses for Apple’s Mac OS. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get an anti-virus for your Mac.
2. To run a Mac, you must have a Mac too. Being compatible only with Apple’s devices, this OS always runs smoothly as the devices are made for the OS.
3. On the presentation department, Apple has always been ahead of Windows. Mac always comes with a style quotient attached to them.

Cons
1. If you thought Windows was expensive, then Mac isn’t for you because it’s more expensive than Windows.
2. The second point in the pros section is also a con for the Mac. You have to buy an Apple computer to run the Mac. These computers are expensive.
3. Mac has never been known for its gaming compatibility, even though the computers are immensely powerful. Moreover, many other programs do not run on the Mac PC.

Linux
The way things stand right now, laptops and PCs are becoming passé and mobile operating systems are gaining popularity. Linux is being adopted like never before!

Pros
1. Linux is free and that is its biggest USP. You have to pay nothing. You can download a copy of your favourite Linux distribution (a type of Linux-based OS usually called distro) and then even build your own distro using this one.
2. Linux is just the kernel, not the OS. Being proprietary OSes, Windows and Macs come about once a year or not even that. Linux, on the other hand, has a variety of options available. You can go from Ubuntu to Fedora to Debian to Arch Linux. If you’re interested in hacking, then Kali Linux is at your disposal.
3. An interesting thing about Linux is that it is almost immune to viruses.

Cons
1. Linux is somewhat more complicated than Mac or Windows. To unlock its powerful potential, you have to know the Linux command line which is like learning how to use a computer all over again.
2. Linux also has a compatibility issues, but that is strictly because of its market share. There are open source (free) alternatives to almost all programs though.
3. While many have started selling Linux-based computers, the number of vendors is still low. You will most often have to buy a Windows PC and then download Linux onto it. The OS is free though, so there’s no added cost.

When it comes to choosing your operating system, you must focus on what your usage is. A gamer will always prefer a Windows PC, simply because all games are compatible with it. On the other hand, a sound engineer or a video editor will prefer to work with Mac for its superior support in that segment. Linux users are open source proponents and they like the flexibility of the OS. Often, Linux users are more serious computer users than other and know about coding, scripting etc.

Thank you very much for this post. I'm hoping you could help me with a Linux problem.
I installed the Kali Linux on Vmware. For proper usge of the OS in a virtual machine, this requires that I install Vmware tools and for me to install Vmware tools, I need to install linux headers first. So the problem here is: How do I install Linux headers?

These are the processes I underwent:
After installing, I opened Terminal with root access, I tried the updates using

Apt-get update

The update ended with error in GPG keyrings. I also tried upgrading [apt-get upgrade] but the data size was much that I couldn't download it. I also couldn't upgrade the distro [apt-get distro-upgrade].
When I tried installing Linux headers [apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)]. My kernel is 3.14_Kali1-amd64.
My respositories [leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list] are very okay. They only include the regular and security respositories on Kali linux site. I use Kali Linux 1.0.9. How do I update without GPG keyring error? How do I install Kali Linux Headers? How do I install. Vmware tools?

Bros, if I say I understand all the technical stuff you wrote up there, na lie!
I'm actually just starting with Linux (LPI 101 & 102) things and even use Oracle's virtualbox.
Have you tried visiting a kali linux support website or forum? I'm sure if you copy and paste your issues on google, U'll get results.
You can also visit the Support section of Vmware's website for the particular version of VMWare U're using. VMWare forums could also do the trick.
Its cause of issues that come up with virtual machines that I want to get another laptop so that I'll turn my current one to a full fledged linux machine.
BTW, are you a hacker? Lol...

Donbona8:
Thank you very much for this post. I'm hoping you could help me with a Linux problem.
I installed the Kali Linux on Vmware. For proper usge of the OS in a virtual machine, this requires that I install Vmware tools and for me to install Vmware tools, I need to install linux headers first. So the problem here is: How do I install Linux headers?

These are the processes I underwent:
After installing, I opened Terminal with root access, I tried the updates using

Apt-get update

The update ended with error in GPG keyrings. I also tried upgrading [apt-get upgrade] but the data size was much that I couldn't download it. I also couldn't upgrade the distro [apt-get distro-upgrade].
When I tried installing Linux headers [apt-get install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)]. My kernel is 3.14_Kali1-amd64.
My respositories [leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list] are very okay. They only include the regular and security respositories on Kali linux site. I use Kali Linux 1.0.9. How do I update without GPG keyring error? How do I install Kali Linux Headers? How do I install. Vmware tools?

So I typed ur query into google and this page popped up.
Hope it'll solve your issues if applied.
https://forums.kali.org/showthread.php?24687-Problem-with-apt-get-update
So below is the link to the query I ran on google
http://www.google.com/xhtml?q=updating%20kali%20linux%20without%20gpg%20keyring%20error&client=ms-opera_mb_no&channel=bh

simiolu1:

So I typed ur query into google and this page popped up.
Hope it'll solve your issues if applied.
https://forums.kali.org/showthread.php?24687-Problem-with-apt-get-update
So below is the link to the query I ran on google
http://www.google.com/xhtml?q=updating%20kali%20linux%20without%20gpg%20keyring%20error&client=ms-opera_mb_no&channel=bh

Thanks for your suggestions. I happened to solve the problem before getting back here and now I've dual-booted Kali with Windows 8.1 UEFI Bios.
I have this huge problem. It's huge cos One solution always leads to another problem. I happened to dualboot but I cannot perform [sudo apt-get update] due to internet problem. I need help as to how to install the MTN Modem software.
After making the file executable [chmod +x install.sh], when I try executing and installing the package, the error report is that I must have qt3 runtime library installed. I dont know how to connect my PC to internet on Kali. I'm only using the MTN BB10 cheat. I can't install the modem software, I can't install qt3 runtime library, I can't install OpenVPN, I can't use Wine, I can't use SimpleServer. My only source of internet is on Windows 8.1.
I need help from anyone who uses Linux.

Yea, Kali can have issues at times, especially when you have the latest bleeding-edge repos and updates installed. Those might still have bugs that need to be ironed out. To hook that machine up to the net, your best bet would be to either boot into windows get the package files for the modem, the runtimes you need, e.t.c. Another option would be to go the old-fashioned ethernet way. So use a legit wifi router, hook up one of the LAN ports, I believe DHCP should be enabled by default on Kali or look online for how to configure the network options and routes. Then install the headers, repos, packages, e.t.c directly on the Kali install.

Cheers.

Donbona8:


Thanks for your suggestions. I happened to solve the problem before getting back here and now I've dual-booted Kali with Windows 8.1 UEFI Bios.
I have this huge problem. It's huge cos One solution always leads to another problem. I happened to dualboot but I cannot perform [sudo apt-get update] due to internet problem. I need help as to how to install the MTN Modem software.
After making the file executable [chmod +x install.sh], when I try executing and installing the package, the error report is that I must have qt3 runtime library installed. I dont know how to connect my PC to internet on Kali. I'm only using the MTN BB10 cheat. I can't install the modem software, I can't install qt3 runtime library, I can't install OpenVPN, I can't use Wine, I can't use SimpleServer. My only source of internet is on Windows 8.1.
I need help from anyone who uses Linux.