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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:

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
2 Server Systems

Desktop Systems

Microsoft Windows

Estimated market share: 90%; Microsoft Windows enjoys a near monopoly in the desktop OS market

Audience: all markets. Most dominant in business, though it has the lion's share of the market in all sectors.

Pro

Con

Apple Mac OS X

Estimated market share: 5-10%

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

Pro

Con

Linux

Estimated market share: 2-5%

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

Pro

Con

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.

Server Systems

Microsoft Windows

Pro

Con

Linux

Pro

Con

Solaris Operating Environment by Sun Microsystems

Pro

Con

FreeBSD

Pro

Con

NetBSD

Pro

Con

OpenBSD

Pro

Con

Mac OS/OS X Server

Pro

Con