What is your main OS besides the Amiga OSes and why?

[trekiej]

Windows: More drivers and software. Multi-core.
Linux: Not windows. Multi-core.
Haiku-OS: I like BeOS. Not windows. Multi-core. Still Beta.

[TeamBlackFox]

Yssing, it isn't even about GUIs the simple fact that Windows lacks open APIs and libraries makes it less secure and also less usable for someone who primarily produces BSD-style licence software. Encumbering myself with proprietary or copyleft licence restrictions is unacceptable.

Tone007, you've moved from permissions now to ownership, which under UNIX is a totally separate concept. In UNIX it is accomplished via chown, in the following syntax:

% chown user:group $file

Windows NT lacks the difference here, and it also lacks ASLR which means if I back a program, get it installed on a computer then as long as I have admin level privileges I can overwrite critical portions of the memory with no defence against that. In modern UNIX ASLR protects against this by randomising the layout of the memory address space making it significantly more difficult for an attacker to crash a machine.

ElPolloDiablo, I never have gotten RSI from typing, but from mice usage I have. I use Dvorak and also generally keep my wrists straight while typing to avoid RSI.

[Paulie85]

No-one still using DOS then?

[tone007]

Tone007, you've moved from permissions now to ownership, which under UNIX is a totally separate concept. In UNIX it is accomplished via chown, in the following syntax:

% chown user:group $file

Windows NT lacks the difference here

No, ownership and permissions are separate in Windows as well.  CACLS manages permissions, TAKEOWN will allow you to manage ownership.

[TheMagicM]

Linux and Solaris.  Dont need to go into why, facts start flame wars.

[guest11527]

Pretty much everything that is programmable sits here somewhere, though the main system(s) are Linux (Debian, actually). Other Os'es that run here are Solaris, IRIX, and MacOs. Even some old AIX machines somewhere, though we might have thrown them out. Yes, windows sits here somewhere, too, caged into virtual machines, starting from Win XP (the obsolete) WinXP 64 (the strange), Windows 7 (the beauty) and Windows 8 (the beast).  It's quite a collection of machines from bleeding edge to obsolete. Yes, it's a computing center.

[TeamBlackFox]

No, ownership and permissions are separate in Windows as well.  CACLS manages permissions, TAKEOWN will allow you to manage ownership.

I researched, and you're correct. Few points I need to touch on: chmod is more useful because you can make a directory and everything inside of it inherit the same permissions, using the -R flag. CACLS lacks this functionality, and it looks like MS is trying to replace it with ICACLS which already has a severe security exploit against it in all known versions:

It ignores permission to change files (write protection) so if I hack a xomputer and am only running as a limited user I can potentially gain access to files that would otherwise not be readable.

These problems are because Winodws' NT line was never designed with security as a forefront, and in the interest of backwards compatibility with very old versions they have to tack on security at higher levels. It also was never designed to be used on the open web, only behind a local secured a firewalled LAN, because to this day there are RDP exploits on Vista and below, that assuming I know your IP, it is game over in terms of security.

This may not interest many people here but I'm an infosec enthusiast, and I keep my wits about me in regards to data security by using Windows behind PFSense firewalls, securing all of the insecure services turned on by default and I always am very careful about what I download and unpack on those machines.

>Solaris

I'm surprised to see that here! What do you use it for? And what version?

[Linde]

I use OS X and various GNU/Linux at work and mostly OS X at home as well, but on my personal computers I run Debian GNU/Linux. In OS X, I use VirtualBox and Vagrant a lot to run various operating systems, including Windows, *BSD, GNU/Linux distros and more obscure but interesting operating systems like MINIX 3 and plan9. With Vagrant I can set up such a virtualized environment with a single command as a one-off development server.

OS X is nice though, and I enjoy its BSD user land. It's a legitimate (and certified) UNIX that runs well out of the box as far as I am concerned. Using the different package managers that are available for it makes it very convenient as development workstation.

@TeamBlackFox >> Well the customers I work with uses GUI's since they are regular users.
Maybe your customers are more into consoles, but that can hardly be true for the majority of users.

You can develop GUI applications using a terminal based toolset, you know. In some cases it doesn't matter what the customer prefers, because the customer won't even know that the software is running.

[TeamBlackFox]

Most of the stuff I do is under my name and I also have signed some NDAs so I'm limited on what I can say.

However I have assisted someone in development of a set of debug tools for a game console in the event of a crash. These are based on the NetBSD userland, with lots of functionality not needed stripped out. What I worked on mostly was the equivalent of busybox for the project. Since it was more of a question on how to trim the tools down for space constraints, rather than anything else, it was less involved with writing code more than cutting and hacking it down. I do not get paid for the work I perform in many cases, I prefer to simply go for the experience. I have a non programming job currently that enables me to pick and choose where I can contribute to. There simply isn't a target audience that requires a GUI for what I do, what is more important is for the code to be portable and not dependent on proprietary APIs or libraries.

[trekiej]

I also have a FreeDos box.

[guest11527]

Maybe your customers are more into consoles, but that can hardly be true for the majority of users.

You might be astonished. End users in Windows land - yes, those are GUI users. But a lot of software doesn't have a GUI, and doesn't interact directly with the user. Server stuff, mostly, middle-ware, libraries. My software usually does not have a GUI, and if it has, the GUI is rendered by a browser. Thus, the "operating system" is Firefox, IE, opera, also Java in some cases, but rarely ever the "native" GUI of the host Os. Applications today - well, that's all in the internet.

[DavidF215]

Work: Windows 7 as that's what the company provides plus the server farm is mostly Windows with some RedHat Linux and AS400 systems thrown in. I'm an Operator and C# programmer for custom Ops Apps.

Home: Windows 8.1 (desktop), Linux Mint v16 (desktop), OS-X Leopard (laptop).

Most home use is web browsing, email, programming, and casual gaming (in that order). Programming includes (in order of usage) BlitzMax, PureBasic, Monkey, C/C++, and PHP implemented across all 3 platforms. Linux runs Apache and MySQL. I created about 4 small game Apps in BlitzMax with an additional app nearing completion, one game in Monkey, and one work in progress in PureBasic. I've been thinking about porting to C/C++ so trying to determine a good cross-platform GUI library for C/C++ and wondering if converting existing code from Basic to C is worth the effort. Anyways, that's my input on the question.

[Thorham]

No-one still using DOS then?

I'd sooner hang myself.

[amigadave]

The latest computer I have purchased is an i7 laptop and it came with Windows8, which I absolutely hate.  I updated it free to 8.1, but it did not help any, and I am so tempted to downgrade to Windows7.

I use it mostly for one MMO game that I play with a few friends and family members, plus my CAD drawing software, but lately about half of my time spent on the i7 laptop is running AmigaForever, which it does very well.

What is really disappointing is that even with all of this power and RAM and hard drive speed, I still experience glitches during video playback occasionally.  The simplicity of Amiga (and Amiga inspired) systems is so much more fun and relaxing to deal with.  I am always trying to do more on my Amiga/Amiga inspired systems and less on my Windows/Mac/Linux systems.

[oddmario]

Win 8.1 Home
OSX at Work
After many years with Ubuntu i have gone with MS 8.1
It just works hassle free for everything i use my pc for

[TeamBlackFox]

The latest computer I have purchased is an i7 laptop and it came with Windows8, which I absolutely hate.  I updated it free to 8.1, but it did not help any, and I am so tempted to downgrade to Windows7.

I use it mostly for one MMO game that I play with a few friends and family members, plus my CAD drawing software, but lately about half of my time spent on the i7 laptop is running AmigaForever, which it does very well.

What is really disappointing is that even with all of this power and RAM and hard drive speed, I still experience glitches during video playback occasionally.  The simplicity of Amiga (and Amiga inspired) systems is so much more fun and relaxing to deal with.  I am always trying to do more on my Amiga/Amiga inspired systems and less on my Windows/Mac/Linux systems.

I suppose you have a point here regarding AmigaOS's ability to manage memory fairly well, if relying on cooperative multitasking with a preemptive scheduler. I also think the message passing and overall efficiency with which the OS and hardware combined can do is something that many operating systems have failed to do.

However, there are severe drawbacks to using AmigaOS for a day-to-day which have prevented me from using it beyond as a novelty on the 3000:

Lack of any basic or advanced security mechanisms
Lack of task isolation and privilege separation, meaning malicious programs can run and lock up a system or send it into a Guru meditation
Lack of sophisticated filesystems with features like RAID, snapshots or crash-safety which I use and rely on every day
Lack of updated browser
Lack of 64-bit support ( I rely heavily on 64-bit math, pointers, and memory addressing for many programs which I run and have had hands in developing )


Also, on Windows, anytime it comes up in conversation these days I think of this immediately, since Android 19 runs Windows apparently with that voice of his: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsx09hDU0Sw