The Best Enterprise Operating System – Software Availability

This is my continuing series discussing desktop operating choices for Enterprise use.  Follow this link to the last ones in the series.

Earlier we discussed how, today there are only three viable choices in desktop operating systems: Microsoft Windows, The Apple OS, and Linux.  As a reminder this series of articles will explore the reasons that I can think of and that you, my readers suggest to help you decide which is best.  It is not my goal to evangelize one operating system or company over another, but instead to understand for myself the justifications for the choices that these large organizations have made.  I will strive to be fair and balanced in my analysis.

Remember, for simplicity in comparisons, I am considering Microsoft Windows XP (with Service pack 3), Apple OS 10.5, and Ubuntu Linux 8.04 as the baselines.  My reasons for this are contained in the introductory post.  Also, in the interests of full disclosure, I use Windows at work.  For my personal computing, I prefer the Apple OS.  When the Apple OS is not available, such as in a netbook, I use Linux as well as Windows. Basically, I am proficient and familiar with all three.

Today we will consider software availability.  I define this as the ability to obtain applications and utilities to enable the computer systems to do whatever it is that your organization needs. 

Windows XP.  Well obviously, the most software is available for Windows.  There are a number of reasons for this, but it is unarguable that software comes out first for Windows and will be supporting it if no other.

Apple OS.  The Apple OS is a challenge to characterize.  It has a significant amount of software available, but is not the first platform that nearly anything is developed for.  The smaller the niche of your application, the less likely it is that it will be available for Macs.  There are quite a few hardware interface applications, in particular, where no Mac support is available.  While it is true that you can do anything with an Apple, it is not true that anything will run on one.

Linux. There is a ton of software available for LINUX and more everyday.  Unfortunately, there are notable software titles, especially large scale creative ones like Adobe Photoshop, that no support or alternative exists.  Unfortunately, in industries where standards of acceptance exists for products such as MS Office, the Adobe Creative Suite, and business accounting, LINUX cannot run the needed products. 

Availability is considered alone, MS Windows XP is by far the best,  I would place Linux second and Apple OS a distant third.  This category was fairly straight forward and I suspect that there will not be much disagreement here.

Please continue to come back over the next few weeks as I consider the remaining specific points outlined in the first post that influence this decision. I plan to cover one at a time during the coming month. The next one up is Security.

How important is software availability to your operating system choice?  On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being most critical) how does it rate?  Did I adequately define this attribute? Please share your thoughts by leaving comments below. Happy Thinking…

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for August 17, 2009 ©Scott Coughlin.

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