This will sound hypocritical of me, but I really dislike OS snobbery. I've unsubscribed from the Greater London Linux Group (GLLUG) a number of times due to the general bitchiness of some subscribers over their hatred for all things Microsoft, OS X, or any number of other operating systems that are not Linux.
I also hate to say this, but much of this snobbery seems to stem from Linux zealots. I continually hear how crap Windows is and that Linux is so much better than every other operating system. Similar things from the FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD camps too – although they tend to put their OSes above Linux. As for the hard core Windows user, they bitch about Linux being unfriendly and complicated. OS X users come into the fray and say their computers/OS is better than Windows, Linux and all other *ixes put together.
I have news for you. No one operating system is any better than the other. And it also all boils down to personal choice. I've seen Windows, Linux and OS X systems compromised[*] (and I should note: none were any of mine!). I've not been around FreeBSD, NetBSD or OpenBSD to say the same. But certainly one cannot be smug about any operating system when it comes to security.
In terms of usability, I've always found Linux desktops to be terribly inconsistent and fiddly – and not a little ugly. But that's just my personal preference. Windows has generally been a bit more consistent (although I am still getting used to some of the changes in Windows 7 where Microsoft have moved some regular options I used to the Control Panel), but it provides the biggest choice in terms of software and compatibility. OS X has been the most consistent interface of all, and provides a very friendly and wonderful approach to user friendly computing. But I'm not liking much the software availability and quality of some of the software that's available for the Mac. Apple's own software products are, for the most part, wonderful, but there are still some issues that prevent me from loving Apple completely.
The reason I'm now rooting for the Windows/PC camp is that it suits my needs now. I may well head back to Macs later down the road, but for now, the PC and Windows does what I want it to do. I could even go to Linux as a desktop if the interface was right (Ubuntu comes very close to my ideal, but it still needs work). In terms of hardware support, Linux has never had it so good. And the same can be said about Windows.
I certainly grumble about OSes and hardware myself, but I *do* try to bear in mind about having an objective outlook on things rather than simply dismissing something simply because it comes from Apple, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, or whoever. Each and every operating system has advantages and disadvantages over each other and I believe it is quite wrong to start slanging matches for the sake of doing so.
[*] I'm seeing more people running obsolete versions of Fedora Core and even Red Hat Linux operating systems. A few years ago I noticed a film distribution company running Red Hat 9 with telnet (not SSH!) and all available default services running (and all versions of those services were available for all to see) – and this was a server running the web site for a Terry Gilliam film. I had to write to the systems team and advise them that this was putting their site (and reputation) in jeopardy. Thankfully they then firewalled off the machine and fixed the problems. The stupid thing is, this is still a common problem!
