macOS vs. Windows vs. Linux

[PristineSound]

You're totally and naively overestimating the amount of true subject expertise you'll gain from ChatGPT and such.

Really?

1) By definition of using AI, you need to validate it, you get get credit for validating ChatGPT.

2) AI is not a replacement, it's a tool. And it also depends on the user using the tool. I have used AI to reverse engineer an APK by crawling through the Smali code and rebuilt an entire version without writing one single line of code to great success. . . because I know how to use it properly.

I'm afraid I'm not the naive one, it's just your AI prompting skill is inadequate.

 

[PristineSound]

I have a PhD, thanks vey much. Off to the ignore list. I guess comprehension of basic percentage math escapes your genius.

Close the door behind you please.

 

[Roland68]

Do you think Toole only has 100 level knowledge?

I don't dispute the value of experience. I am only talking about gaining new knowledge. In 2026, to gain 100 level knowledge in anything, is very very low effort. We are living in the golden age of knowledge acquisition.



I agree, although, I don't have the citation on f what you are saying. But losing knowledge is mutually exclusive from gaining knowledge, I am only talking about gaining 100 level knowledge in 2026 is relatively and incredibly easy.

Do you think Toole incorporated even 10% of his knowledge into that book?
Do you see where the problem lies?
For every 1 percent of knowledge an AI possesses (in a technical field), there is another 10% that was never documented and is therefore being lost right now.

There are countless areas where exactly this has happened—and continues to happen.
You could absorb all the knowledge available on the internet and in books, yet still fail to successfully recreate certain products within a month or a year, even with the necessary materials and machinery at your disposal. There are countless examples of this.
Just look at the years of research and development it took for "Impossible" to even come close to the quality of old Polaroid instant film. Many current film manufacturers face the same struggle as they try to produce film stock that matches the quality of the past.
Or take audio vacuum tubes, for instance: tubes that used to last 5 to 10 years often don't even last 1 or 2 years today.
Certain tungsten alloys can no longer be manufactured because one of the major producers laid off an employee they deemed insignificant.
AI can't help with that.

You can acquire all existing knowledge via AI, but if you can't actually put it to use, it’s worth no more than a piece of toilet paper.

 

[somebodyelse]

Please share with us, what is your valid reason to use Linux for the below use case:

But today, it's absolutely silly to be using Linux, especially for everyday computing tasks, such as audio.

Sticking strictly to the audio, to turn some very cheap (or old and spare, so essentially free) hardware into an audio appliance using something like daphile or piCorePlayer. When I say 'cheap' I mean ~£20 used thin clients, or a Pi Zero W or 2W. And by appliance I mean you do everything normal through a browser GUI, much like the many commercial audio devices that use linux under the skin without people being aware of it. With daphile you can't get to a shell even if you want to.

Frankly I don't understand the argument about using a command line. I can't think of anything an ordinary user would do that needs it - there's a GUI for everything ordinary in the major desktops. I often use the terminal anyway because it's quicker and easier once you know how, but that's exactly why MS finally added PowerShell to Windows after people telling them cmd.exe wasn't up to the job.

There are other non-silly reasons to be using linux. Mine is because Windows and MacOS are just too frustrating to use on my own time, while linux annoys me less, and less often. It's been my main OS for many years now.

 

[Roland68]

Here is a 1980's joke: What do you get when you cross Lee Iacocca with a vampire?

(And yes I know you hate it when cars get randomly injected into discussions. I couldn't pass up the opportunity!!!).

I haven't heard that since my apprenticeship in the late 80s
It reminds me of all those mean Microsoft jokes.

 

[PristineSound]

Do you think Toole incorporated even 10% of his knowledge into that book?
Do you see where the problem lies?
For every 1 percent of knowledge an AI possesses (in a technical field), there is another 10% that was never documented and is therefore being lost right now.

Even if it's 10%, that is 100 level knowledge, then there are plenty of other sources outside of Toole's book. Which are all accessible with few clicks over the internet.

Let me give you a good example, the CTO of Ascilab, states (in paraphrase) I read everything I can get my hands on when it comes to speakers during my during mandatory conscription service. Where did you think he got this information from? The Internet.

It is mind bending to me that anyone would disagree that in 2026, you cannot obtain 100 level knowledge with very little effort.

There are countless areas where exactly this has happened—and continues to happen.
You could absorb all the knowledge available on the internet and in books, yet still fail to successfully recreate certain products within a month or a year, even with the necessary materials and machinery at your disposal. There are countless examples of this.
Just look at the years of research and development it took for "Impossible" to even come close to the quality of old Polaroid instant film. Many current film manufacturers face the same struggle as they try to produce film stock that matches the quality of the past.

That is not 100 level or even 200 level knowledge.

You can acquire all existing knowledge via AI, but if you can't actually put it to use, it’s worth no more than a piece of toilet paper.

Aside from the fact that college is all about knowledge, yet, when I graduated I was still able to write a moderately complex application for my employer. That is besides the fact that I am only speaking of knowledge.

With knowledge comes experiments, and mocking around, such as lab, with such lab there are projects, with such there is experience.

I do not disagree that experience is important, but I think you are losing sight and knowledge is the underlying starting point.

 

[PristineSound]

Sticking strictly to the audio, to turn some very cheap (or old and spare, so essentially free) hardware into an audio appliance using something like daphile or piCorePlayer. When I say 'cheap' I mean ~£20 used thin clients, or a Pi Zero W or 2W. And by appliance I mean you do everything normal through a browser GUI, much like the many commercial audio devices that use linux under the skin without people being aware of it. With daphile you can't get to a shell even if you want to.

But if your budget is truly truly only $20, then your use case is valid.

But I want to add that I have seen people giving away free old PC on Facebook marketplace because they don't want to throw it into the landfill.

Frankly I don't understand the argument about using a command line. I can't think of anything an ordinary user would do that needs it - there's a GUI for everything ordinary in the major desktops. I often use the terminal anyway because it's quicker and easier once you know how, but that's exactly why MS finally added PowerShell to Windows after people telling them cmd.exe wasn't up to the job.

You just described an advanced user.

There are other non-silly reasons to be using linux. Mine is because Windows and MacOS are just too frustrating to use on my own time, while linux annoys me less, and less often. It's been my main OS for many years now.

As I previously stated, if you are using something because of comfort, that's that.

But if you are coming to the Internet to be a Linux evangelist that's a different story, I don't think you were, but others were.

 

[antcollinet]

Do you think Toole only has 100 level knowledge?

Difficult to know without you stating what your seemingly random scale is.

 

[john61ct]

Very surprised no Emacs partisans emerged to battle the Vi heathen here LOL

Amazing how dogmatic people get to the point the discussion becomes pointless, everyone's talking past each other.

Yes, use the platform(s) you prefer, for whatever reason. Keep an open mind though as a different one may be "better" for some factor that turns out to be important.

Mac users must spend more, Linux users may do everything they want on boxen costing less than a cheap family dinner.

If you think windoze is best FOR YOU, do that. If you WANT the rabbit hole that is Linux, wrangling PipeWire native filters and AES67 streaming you do you!

It's all good.

...

Yes renderer is widely used in Audio to distinguish the compute node sending out the stream to the analog audio gear, from the control surface say your mobile browser.

How is "player" thus disambiguated in the world of viewing videos on computers?

Server nodes the third node type set aside...

 

[Sal1950]

Because the overwhelming vast majority of desktop computers are Windows, so it's a bang for the buck for bad actors Now that MacOS has grow in market share over the last several decades, so has the malware threat.

I already said that in the last paragraph of my post, no need to correct or debate me.

No computer or OS are ever safe from Malware, while some are more resilient, such as Windows 11, but the real risk are user habits, any cybersecurity professional will vouch for this statement. I know what I am doing, but not everyone does;

Well no schitt Sherlock? There in lies the problem, 95% of the Joe Sixpacks don't know what you know and are the ones at risk, not you and me.

2) No, you do not need to buy any anti-virus software for Windows anymore, anti-virus and anti-malware is built into Windows, it's been like this for years now.

Maybe, can't prove it by me but Windows protective software still a billion dollar business.. ???
Not for Linux or Mac users?
Would you feel better about me recommending a Mac as a option?
They are both more secure options than Doz, and Linux also shines as a option for older hardware. The hard part can be a install, something the Sixpack users struggle with for all of the 3 choices. (partition, whats a partition?) Beyond that the need to use a terminal command is about equal across the board with most modern OS's, mostly a thing of the past.

 

[PristineSound]

Difficult to know without you stating what your seemingly random scale is.

I don't know why this reference is not being understood by so many.

But in the US, college courses are typically name with 2/3 letters and 3 numbers. i.e. CS102 or PS234.

The letters represent the department, i.e. CS = computer science, PS = Political Science.

The course are typically divided from 100 to 400 levels for undergrad. And 400 to 600 levels for grad. 100 level is the easiest course, essentially introductory, as the levels gets higher and higher, it's get harder and more complex. It does not mean it covers more topic, it just means it's more complex and more advanced.


My statement is: "In this world, generally speaking, everything and anything has 5 levels of expertise/knowledge. It's kind of like college courses, you have the 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 level course.

In 2026, if you have a half decent brain, you can get to 100 level knowledge in anything and everything with very little effort, you can even get to 200 level with mild to moderate effort."

I am puzzled why this statement would be remotely controversial to anyone. We live in a golden era of knowledge acquisition.

 

[pablolie]

Maybe, can't prove it by me but Windows protective software still a billion dollar business.. ???

I have no market size insghts and trends, but I can very well imagine that Microsoft has hurt that 3rd party security business given the fact they have integrated all the basic security functions within Windows. Given Microsoft's security past history, I can imagine users keep trusting 3rd party security tools, though.

But as noted before, the most dangerous security threats directly target Linux servers these days. For a hacker, it is far more rewarding to go after large institutions than individual users. It used to be the key to protect user endpoints... these days, if you infest the cloud, you get it ALL... confidential data at grand scale.

So yes, Linux is under threat, too... but it's not Linux desktops that are the target...

And like someone else mentioned, endpoint security is mostly a matter of self discipline and awareness these days. The threats go out to roam in the wild many months before endpoint security programs get the update to prevent things...

 

[PristineSound]

I already said that in the last paragraph of my post, no need to correct or debate me.

Fair enough.

Well no schitt Sherlock? There in lies the problem, 95% of the Joe Sixpacks don't know what you know and are the ones at risk, not you and me.

I was just making the point that people need to stop blaming Windows for user error.

Maybe, can't prove it by me but Windows protective software still a billion dollar business.. ???

Why would it matter how much is Microsoft's cyber security business is worth?

All that matters for this instance is that, you do not need McAfee or Norton for Windows and it's been like this probably for over a decade now.

Not for Linux or Mac users?
Would you feel better about me recommending a Mac as a option?

I hate Mac more than Linux

But in general, I personally find any kind of OS enthusiasm to be just plain out sissy. It just reminds me of those stupid sissy mid-2000's Mac advertisement campaign. I don't know, those Apple fanboys scar me for life, now I find any sort of OS evangelists (MacOS, Linux, Windows or anything else) annoying thanks to those flamboyant, sissy Apple fanboys who camped out of Apple stores for days in tents to buy a Mac because some hippy who wears the same turtleneck 7 days a week told them how great it was, then these sissy fanboys parade around town holding their new Mac with two hands displaying it to the world like Rafiki holding Simba.

Sorry, if I came across as some grumpy senior citizen uncle.

They are both more secure options than Doz, and Linux also shines as a option for older hardware. The hard part can be a install, something the Sixpack users struggle with for all of the 3 choices. (partition, whats a partition?) Beyond that the need to use a terminal command is about equal across the board with most modern OS's, mostly a thing of the past.

Sure, please just don't turn into a Linux version of Apple fanboy.

 

[Sal1950]

Sure, please just don't turn into a Linux version of Apple fanboy.

Fair enough, if you can stop your Windoz fanboy thing today.

 

[PristineSound]

Fair enough, if you can stop your Windoz fanboy thing today.

To be fair, I did say this

I must say Windows sucks supreme until Windows 7 in 2009.

I only come across as a Windows fanboy because I'm not on the Windows bashing bandwagon, which is a rarity nowadays.

 

[Mike123]

Could someone explain to a non-native speaker the meaning of "DOZ" or "WINDOWZ"? Is it some kind of demeaning term or something? For some time now, I've been a little triggered by the letter "Z" used inappropriately.

 

[beeface]

Could someone explain to a non-native speaker the meaning of "DOZ" or "WINDOWZ"? Is it some kind of demeaning term or something? For some time now, I've been a little triggered by the letter "Z" used inappropriately.

Native English speaker here. Doesn't mean anything to me either.

Now, if someone were to call it Windoze, it might have some sort of negative connotation - Windows is so boring it makes people sleepy. Although that makes me wonder - can an OS be boring?

 

[Sal1950]

Is it some kind of demeaning term or something?

Yep, being honest that's pretty much it. LOL

 

[JustAnandaDourEyedDude]

Could someone explain to a non-native speaker the meaning of "DOZ" or "WINDOWZ"? Is it some kind of demeaning term or something? For some time now, I've been a little triggered by the letter "Z" used inappropriately.

Rest easy. There is no connection with Z-patriots etc. that would understandably trigger you a little.

Terms like that are (Windoze, Windowz, Doz) have been in use for many many years, and are used dismissively or demeaningly for MSWindows. I have always inferred that the writer's meaning was that he/she found MSWindows to be clumsy, slow in execution and screen refreshes, and boring, causing them to doze off while waiting on simple tasks to finish. This was all in the early days of MSWindows, when such was often indeed the case. The slow PC hardware compared with mainframes and workstations was also to blame for the feeling.

The ASR rules wisely forbid discussion of divisive topics like religion, politics, etc., because this quickly leads to online quarrels and makes minority groups feel unwelcome. So you are unlikely to come across any deliberate use of Z on ASR to mean what would have triggered you. If you do notice such use, please click on the "Report" link at the bottom left of the offending post and report it to the forum moderators.

Having followed the news closely since February 2022 via YouTube videos, I find Ukraine to be a beautiful country with great people and a beautiful culture, cuisine, language and music!
ASR has a thread dedicated to listing some beautiful Ukrainian music, in case you had not noticed it before:
Current music from and about Ukraine and its people- no politics, please.

 

[antcollinet]

I don't know why this reference is not being understood by so many.

But in the US...

You are posting in an international forum. US citizens represent less than 1/3 of the readership (based on web traffic). Even amongst USAnians, I would guess that there are a significant part who are unaware of US college scoring systems.

I hate Mac more than Linux

But in general, I personally find any kind of OS enthusiasm to be just plain out sissy.

Interesting juxtaposition of two statements.