Well, Msoft stopped imitating Mac OS after Win7. But I agree that NTFS is a dinosaur and completely obsolete.
On the bright side, you can run Win10 with pretty much the same hardware than Vista/7 . I had a 2010 MacBook Air with 2GB RAM and Core Duo @1,86Ghz and Windows 10 ran good. Mac OS X... lol

And I think most of the heat Apple is taking recently is about their changes towards getting more money, like the iTunes thing, forced obsolescence and so on.

 

Totally true, but...

Most of us made a decision at one point in the past for or against a given OS. It may not even have been the best in hindsight but in most cases it's just too expensive (in $$$ and/or work/retraining of staff) to make a shift.

The other question is how to help younger people or businesses to make a more informed decision:
For that avail IMHO it would be best to open three different moderated threads with Mac/Win/iX operating systems and collect plus and minus, positive and negative aspects and experience of every OS. At best with a proof of some kind.

It's just not helpful to fill threads and threads with questions about Mac with off topic answers about how much better is windows and vice versa (and of course iX).

I liked @Andrew 's suggestion (after we squabbled a bit about OS, what else?):

​

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2018

Even if it is only one, but for strict comparison based on (semi)solid facts/opinions.
We may not remember it but this was a Windows only one lol
Then again in these kind of threads you know what's gonna happen...

 

I know this is an old post but for my taste:

Windows Initial Script by disassembler. You can find it on github. Careful!
Glary Utilities: it's like CCleaner on steroids, great for optimizing services and startup and great for removing junk
A non intrusive Windows optimizer that doesn't install bloatware and "magic" background services. I recommend Auslogics BoostSpeed.

Even without Cortana you may want to use StartIsBack, though with a powerful GPU perhaps not needed.

 

Last edited: Aug 17, 2018

Yepp.
Thus moderated or curated or how we could call it if it's possible.

I do. But you know what. The very first post after thread opener's was off topic.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2018

It's a very interesting, and I might say rather civil, discussion about OSes. Many people are worried about what MS has been doing, and is still doing with Windows, and they are looking for alternatives. At this time MacOS is a really good alternative for audio, with many major plugin developers supporting it, so why not mentioning it?

Linux is getting better and easier to handle with each update, and I have high hopes for it, too. For example, I really liked Debian 8 when I installed it 5 years ago, and I was surprised with how easy it was to install it and handle it. Too much reading posts from Linux haters, I think. People believe most of the things they read, especially in tech-forums. "Linux is hard". "Linux is only for geeks". Rubbish. Admittedly there are many things done differently in Linux than in Windows, so are in MacOS. MacOS is much closer to Linux, regarding handling different problems, but it is a bit easier than Linux. That's one of the reasons why I would choose MacOS these days for audio. And it is much safer for browsing if you like your audio workstation to be connected to the Internet.

A couple of months ago I installed Debian 9 and I was again surprised with how even easier it become to handle it. It recognised my RME card without any fuss [Debian 8 didn't]. It looks excellent with MATE desktop, and it's really easy to use. Now I would really like there were more plugins that I can use natively in Linux, besides u-he, but since many developers are putting out multiplatform plugins, It's just a matter of time when there'll be more top quality plugins available for it.

Until then, Windows 7 [and XP] will have to do for my music needs. I just find it less cumbersome to use and more compatible with all software than W8, and especially W10. In other words, I'm just waiting to dump Windows completely at some point. Microsoft's future doesn't look good [I'm following tech forums a lot] and their OSes just have less and less to do with music, and more and more with collecting data and making more money for them.

Sorry folks, but that's the cruel truth. I wish W10 was greater and better than W7, but it is just not. Especially when it comes to using it as an audio workstation. Too much fuss with it, and the MS' future looks very bleak. So it's about time to start thinking about, or try using the alternatives, at least for music, but browsing with W10 is also very questionable.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2018

Windows 10? I'm totally out! But I still don't understand why so many people disregard Win 8.1, since it's an absolutely solid and stable system.

 

End of support 2018/1/9 and extended support 2023/1/10. No OS support for newer CPU and chipsets. That's most likely nothing people like to hear when they invest into a new system.

But when one plans to buy a new system in that time frame anyway, why not Win 8.1

 

isn't that a precision you're talking about?

 

Errrr... @twoheart gave the correct official answer, i will unoficially just say that for many users win 8 & 8.1 was the beginning of the end of the serious desktop Os and the start of the "Ms Joker OS", right now it feels like an unfinished win10, which in its own terms is still an unfinished Beta OS on steroids with MS execs call it their baby, their work in progress, only this baby is kinda monstrous with a main GUI that's fit for touchscreens only it's a desktop OS, while the whole Os and its subsystems is built specifically to spy on your every move. And you don't have to be a genious to realize so, a quick look at a popular app plain users download by the thousands, O&O Shutup10, reveals over 50 different "spyware" functions with a turn on/off button to manage them.
On a sort of funnier note here, about a month ago Google was fined 5 billion dlrs by the EU on antitrust reasons and "was ordered to change the way it puts search and web-browser apps onto Android mobile devices". Makes me wonder when it will be MS's turn and how much will they be charged with lol. Of course there is the possibility of them getting away with it, we 'll just have to wait and see i guess...
And btw and for my friend twoheart as well, the "no os support for newer cpus and chipsets" is a boogeyman story to scare the uninitiated. The most important driver for any Win OS to get the main mobo (and cpu) feats properly working is the chipset driver. So for instance, Intel might say that their latest chipset driver is Win10 only but it's back compatible with Win 8, 8.1 and Win 7 to say the least. Until of course Intel or AMD introduce some new tech that will not be supported in older Windows versions by means of updates or third party soft, which hasn't happened 3 years down the line since Win10 was introduced.
Cheers
EDIT: @Xupito Compare the latest Win10 Creator's update and High Sierra feats, i'm sure you 'll find "similarities" , only they are on the more re-creational feats like Photos etc...

 

Last edited: Aug 16, 2018

Good to know... what a great second opinion! thank you man!

 

Unfortunately this might not be the case at all times. One such weakness is PCIe boot support for Win7, which natively doesn't feature one.
Win 8, 8.1, 10 does.
So all it takes, mostly, is for mobo manufacturers to drop controller drivers (which have to be slipstreamed to install disk) and Win7 will be forced to stay AHCI only, unless someone can chip in and release something more universal.
Another nail in the coffin might be Visual Studio support and .NET Framework, just like what they did with XP.

You might be surprised that it's very possible to run near-complete audio workstation on linux.
Admittedly, WINE has to be incorporated, but so far all of my plugins loaded fine as long as REAPER was launched through WINE instead of using native and LinVST as bridge.

On a sidenote, there's also ReactOS, but it's unlikely it will be ready before 14th Jan 2020 as more than pre-beta release.

 

Last edited: Aug 16, 2018

windows 8.1 x64 is the pc audio world's workhorse.

 

We can't avoid that. On every modern commercial OS there's and will be spyware. Mac OS X started even before than Windows. Even Win 7 and 8 get "security updates" that are Win10-like spyware. Android and iOS, no need to tell anything.

I trust your words. I just know that with a very old MacBook Air late 2010 (2GB RAM 1,86 Dual Core CPU 128GB SSD) a five-tab Chrome puts any Mac OS X post Mountain Lion on its knees but I can do it with Win10 dual booted on the same laptop.
I could reduce the distance tweaking the Mac OS X but not much.

I take advantage of this to recommend Destroy Windows Spyware by nummer to get rid of windows 7/8 and specially 10 spyware. Most important reason to trust it: it's an open source software.

 

Last edited: Aug 16, 2018

You probably mean the old Win7 iso doesn't support PCIe/NVME boot. Because let's not forget that native support for NVME in Windows 7 was added in the form of an update, here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...er-support-in-nvm-express-in-windows-7-and-wi
If you have an old Win7 iso, cold nvme installation/boot is not supported, but surely older guides like this, http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...an-nvme-ssd-from-a-usb-3-0-thumbdrive.783921/ help enthusiasts who will invest a little more time, to run Win7 from a NVME drive without obtaining a newer Win7 build/iso. Even Intel have their own guide here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000023888/memory-and-storage.html
So with one nail less,

I must agree with all this and thanks for reminding. Especially Dot Net support, which serves as API for many apps and for our own DAW microworld, mainly plugins, can be a sure nail in the coffin later on down the line.

Code wise, the old MacOS has nothing to do with the Unix derivative named MacOSX. I was there in '84 mate, i had the very first Mac, it now sits in the Thessaloniki Museum of Modern Technology, as i had it almost mint. Billy Gates provided enough key code for the Mac, enough to be acknowledged as part of Mac's success hehe... And Gates answered smartly and truthfully when questioned : "Did you copy Steve Jobs or did he copy you ?"
Gates response was: "The main "copying" that went on relative to Steve and me is that we both benefited from the work that Xerox Parc did in creating graphical interface — it wasn't just them, but they did the best work. Steve hired Bob Belville, I hired Charles Simonyi. We didn't violate any IP rights Xerox had, but their work showed the way that led to the Mac and Windows."
So chronologically you maybe correct that MacOS supercedes Windows, but they are both derivatives of someone else's original idea with all that this may mean. The only person who hated Bill making "Windows the Os", was Jobs who right out told him that he was stealing from him while he trusted him. But Stevie was stealing too so my two cents says there should be honesty among thieves, and it's my personal view
Oh, and right now Apple even dropped the X as well. It's just MacOS again.
Much love and sorry for the short flashback deviation.

 

Last edited: Aug 18, 2018

I was talking about the OS spyware, not the history.
I know about the history, interesting one.

 

Oh geez , i should 've understood that ... my bad mate, forgive me and let's move on

 

No worries, happens to all of us, not to talk in this interesting thread with many topics intertwined ))

 

No geek myself but have installed multiboot win7/linux mint, the Linux for online banking etc. This was my first time install. Worked immediately. Tweaked a few things recommended on the mint site like making sure there is a password for accessing as superuser. All very easy to do. A great OS when online security is important. Waiting for the time when I can use it for my DAW. I know this is off topic too but it seems to have morphed.

 

Me neither, everything is fine since windows xp. had a lot of machines at home and used to manage the facilities machine as well. And I personally even considered windows 8.1 a huge improvement, same with win10 now, but it's not that different to win 8.1.

I'm pretty sure, none of us fellow audiosexists ever had seen one of those wild efi scramblings. But we all read about it. So there was some mainboard with some bios that had issues... 1 of thousands of products. and now people say "oh, wayyyy to dangerous to install".
Does anyone know someone who run into issues by freshly installing an OS?

I wonder how we managed to get from windows 3.11 to modern machines. If I had refused to upgrade because I heard some stories (and I heard a lot of stories about EVERY OS), I would still do midi sequencing on a windows 3.11 machine with a very crappy, hardly working parallel port midi interface.
I'm on Windows 10 now for a week, I am totally happy. everything is running smooth. I even do the same tweaks I did with win 8.1, everything is fine.