Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with operatingsystems

What is the server OS market share?

espertus — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:35:37 -0800

Where can I find estimates of server operating system market shares? To be concrete, I'd like to know what percentage of web servers, either by absolute numbers or popularity, use Linux, Windows, etc.

Why do Windows machines get sluggish over time but Macs don't seem to?

colinmarshall — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:14:46 -0800

What is the specific technical reason Windows machines get gradually more sluggish over time (and without a reformat and reinstall) whereas Macs don't seem to? I don't mean to start some kind of Windows-versus-Mac debate or anything, but this is a question that's burned in my mind for some time. I use both Windows XP (on a Dell Inspiron 700m laptop) and Mac OS X (on a dual-core Mac Mini) and the Windows machine slowly becomes unusably sluggish over the course of every 1.5 years or so, whereas the Mac appears to be performing just as it did on day one. What's the actual, objective difference in the operating system architecture that accounts for this?

Excluding Enterprise, What's the Mac's Market Share?

dinger — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:15:34 -0800

When people are spending their own money, what percentage buy macs? There's never a mystery as to Apple's share of the personal computer market…it seemed to bottom out at about 3 percent of the market early in this decade, and by most accounts has since risen to the high single digits, usually reported as about 8 percent (and growing) at the present. However, when I see people using laptops in public (say, at coffee shops or airports), the percentage of macs seems to be significantly higher, about one in three or four. Also, the mac's presence in the online community just seems to be significantly higher than one in ten, based on the volume of mac questions, software discussions, anticipated hardware releases, etc.

Trying to reconcile these seeming contradictions led me to a eureka moment: when mac vs. pc market share is published, it's usually in the form of total system sales. Of course, sales of PC's include the thousands and thousands of cheap desktops and dumb terminals that inhabit the world's cubicle farms, call centers, and data processing hubs, while institutional sales account for a much smaller percentage of the total mac output, probably confined mostly to schools.

Googling for info on sales to individuals turns up very little; the best I could come up with is this article from CNET News which seems to indicate that, as of last December, about 3 out of 10 people anticipated that their next computer purchace would be a mac (surprisingly close to my own observations).

So, here's the question: When people are spending their own money, what percentage by macs? In other words, what's the mac share of the personal personal computer market?

Disclaimer: not looking to start a Mac vs. PC war here; just wondering what individuals spend their hard-earned moola on.

Date the Crypotonomicon!

ormondsacker — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:27:46 -0800

When Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon was published in 1999, it left vague exactly when the "modern" section was taking place. Can we narrow down the dates, based on the software/technology involved? In the present day, Randy's mildly-computer-literate dentist is considering switching his office from Windows 95 to Windows NT. Meanwhile Avi, tech-savvy Silicon-Valley business manager, keeps four OSs on his computer - Win95 ("just for gaming"), Windows NT ("business apps"), a Linux variant, and BeOS. Assuming Avi knows his stuff, how long would that have been a likely combination?

And are there any other clues that would help date the modern storyline?

What's the ramp going to be on Vista?

wflanagan — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:35:16 -0800

What is the ramp of Vista going to be like? I'm researching how many computers, on the whole, and as a percentage, are going to upgrade to Vista in the first few months (6 or so) of Vista's introduction.

I am looking for any numbers, statistics, or other research. Ideally, i'd find:

1) The aggregate by month # of computers running Vista
2) The percentage of new computers versus existing computers upgrading to Vista
3) Geography-based information on these statistics.
4) Broken down by laptops versus desktops.

My GoogleFu comes up with a bunch of stuff.. but WAY old. Now that we're close, and everything is settlling in, how is this sucker gonna ramp?

It has lots of implications. IE7, applications that don't work with Vista, etc.

Any thoughts or better links than the ones I found?

Thanks,

William

How can I easily get info on our networked computers?

criticman — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 07:00:17 -0800

What is the best enterprise quality software & hardware inventory solution? I have been looking all over trade journals, Google, etc to no avail. The solution needs to be as follows:
-"Server" that can run on non-server OS...preferably WinXP pro, but if it needs to run on Linux or Win2k3 Server, that will be fine.
-Client needs to run on Win2k, WinXP Home (don't ask) & Pro

It needs to provide the following info:
-Machine name
-MAC address
-IP address
-Full OS version (w/ key used)
-hardware specs: processor, ram, video, hard drive, etc
-hardware system ID (such as Dell support code/#)
-software installed (w/ license keys)

The goal is to be able to have a good picture of our company's computers and software. That way we can see what hardware needs to be replaced first, what OS's need upgrading, what software needs to be upgraded, and to see if we are compliant with our purchased software license keys.

Although I could setup a database to house the info and could use something like the free Belarc Advisor to go to each machine and gather info, I am faced with a large work load, so going to each machine and manually inputing data is not an option.

Our network consists of approx. 30 "clients", 5 "servers", plus a handful of networked printers.

And since I do have a long list of links to products, I am looking for info from users who have actually implemented and used a solution to give me examples of how it worked and whether or not you would suggest I try it.

Much appreciated in advance!

"There's no place like home...."

Afroblanco — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:55:07 -0800

Need a tinker-free Linux/MySql install for Ruby On Rails. Also, seeking advice for getting started in RoR. Ok, I'll start this out by saying that I have little-to-no interest in operating systems. I've run Windows for the past decade or so because (for me, anyway) it's a no-effort solution that requires the least tinkering possible.

HOWEVER, I've recently been teaching myself Ruby On Rails, and it seems that RoR is most comfortable in a Unix/MySql environment. So here are the questions -

1) Am I correct in the assumption that the standard RoR setup is Unix/MySql? Is this what RoR is most comfortable with? Has anyone successfully run RoR on WinXP/SqlServer?
2) What Linux installation requires the least tinkering to get it to work properly?
3) Which Linux installation has the best community support?
4) Is there a way to install linux as a dual-boot on my WinXP system without reformatting, repartitioning, and reinstalling everything? Bonus points for solutions that involve only free tools.
5) What are some good MySql resources? Specifically, I'm looking for guides to dealing with installation and administration. Also, what are the best MySql community sites?
6) What resources would you suggest for someone starting out in RoR? I'm currently reading Why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby as well as Agile Web Development In Rails. Are there any other books or guides that you would suggest? Are there any places where I can get some good sample code to play around with? What are some good community sites? (I should mention that I'm an experienced programmer, so I'm specifically looking for help with Ruby, not programming in general)

Sorry for the ton and a half of questions. If you could answer *any* of the above, your help will be greatly appreciated.

Linux or Solaris?

IshmaelGraves — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 07:35:43 -0800

Linux or Solaris? My laptop recently shuffled off its mortal coil, and now I'm faced with a clean new PC to play with. I'd been running Red Hat 9, and I'm trying to decide whether to stick with Linux on the new machine (either Fedora or Ubuntu, probably) or to be adventurous and try the now-free Solaris 10. Most of the documentation I've seen on Solaris 10 has been aimed toward sysadmins; there's not too much commentary from hobbyists. My main questions are: how is hardware support? How hard is it to build something on Solaris which was written for Linux? I've seen references to some sort of translation which is intended to allow Solaris to run Linux applications, but without much detail — does this actually work? Any comments from anyone who's used Solaris would be helpful.

Suggest an open source OS

ClanvidHorse — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:24:31 -0800

Can anyone advise a non techy person of an open source OS that I can use? I want it to be reliable, easy to use and intuitive. I know I am asking a lot but it needs to suit all the family. I currently use XP.

Drive letter changes lead to inaccessible data

Mean Mr. Bucket — Sun, 13 Feb 2005 20:30:10 -0800

I have a Windows XP machine, and recently bought a new hard drive now C:, my old drive now D:.

When I go to access my old pictures and documents, D:\Documents and Setting\user, Windows tells me I don't have permissions to access the folder. WTF? How can I access my stuff? I am using the same name and password.

I feel like buying a Mac this very moment.

minimal space hogging OS

MotorNeuron — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 16:13:13 -0800

Small Operating System: A ship that I work on has a VERY old computer (running Win 98) that is used as a public terminal. It's likely a P120, or some such thing. [MI] The guys onboard the ship use the computer it to surf the internet a little or read email from Hotmail or Yahoo.

The computer runs very slowly. What is a small and quick operating system that could replace Win98? It should be easy to use (read: graphical) once set-up and be able to look at web sites. The computer will be used by non-techies, but I am willing to set-up some form of Linux if it doesn't mean that I have to constantly maintain the durn thing.

Linux Distributions

KevinSkomsvold — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 19:50:17 -0800

Hope I'm not opening a can of worms here. I'm jumping into the Linux ring for the very first time. There are a ton of distributions and I was wondering if there were any that the community would recommend for a noob like myself. So far, I've downloaded Mandrake and RedHat images but there are a ton of other out there and I wonder if I'm missing something better? I'll be dual booting on a WinXP pro box (Intel) so I'm looking for something that is relatively easy to install in this situation.

Small Operating Systems for educational purposes.

plep — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 07:36:18 -0800

Can anyone recommend 'small' operating systems for educational purposes at high school level? [MI] A friend of mine is the computer department manager in a high school. One of the students brought in a copy of Knoppix on a CD. It is a complete Linux OS that runs from the CD drive. It has given my friend the idea of presenting small OS' to the students in his computer club. What other 'small' OS's that would fit on a floppy or cd are good for this sort of thing? The aim is to educate students to the fact that Windows is not the one true path to computer nirvana.

An easy to install Linux distribution?

signal — Fri, 27 Feb 2004 17:33:12 -0800

Liinux, yes, but which Linux? [more inside] I have an old (PII, 266Mhx 2Gb) computer lying around that I want to install Linux on. I have never used Linux before, but am reasonably proficient in the Windows environment.
What's a straightfoward, easy to install (especially driver-wise), downloadable Linux distribution? I don't need it to do any heavy lifting, but want to run Apache, PHP, Lynx, MySql, etc., and being able to connect to a windows network would be a big plus.