operating systems
I am a Unix and Network Systems Administrator by profession. My experience runs the gamet from FreeBSD, OpenBSD, some Linux distros (I'm not a big Linux fan), HP-UX, and Solaris. Primarily, I am most comfortable with Solaris and FreeBSD. Although, I really like OpenBSD for it's high security and actually wrote a how-to article for configuring an OpenBSD VPN that was published on Daemonnews.org back in 2001. But I have done more with Solaris and FreeBSD than all of the other Unix and Unix like operating systems.
And if I had to choose my favorite Unix operating system, hands down it would be Solaris. If your a Linux fan, please don't flame me with emails about how Debian r00lz, because I don't care what you think. Chances are you don't even have a quarter of the experience that I have with the various flavors of Unix. So go to some Linux forum and whine about how some Solaris guy dissed your OS.
And I'm not one of those snooty Unix admins who looks down on Windows users while using Windows myself. No. I'm one of those snooty Unix admins who looks down on clueless Windows users while running Solaris on the Sun workstation (W1100) at my office. I practice what I preach.
I guess what annoys me the most about Windows users is the way they like to look down their noses at anybody who isn't running Windows. They like to snicker at Mac and Unix users because "they don't use what everybody else uses." Being part of the majority makes them feel better about their uninformed decision to use a third rate product from a two-bit company. They can't fathom that Mac and Unix users have options to allow them to do the things Windows people think only they can do. They like to say things like, "bet your Mac can't do Excel". Uh, hate to break the news to you, but yes it can. And Solaris runs StarOffice which can read and write Excel spreadsheets.
This allows me a clean segway into discussing the Mac OS. The closest I come to Windows is Mac OS X. Apple hardware and the Mac OS X are absolutely fantastic. Anyone who uses Mac OS X for a period of time couldn't, in their wildest nightmares ever think of going back to Windows. I can proudly tell you that I have done about half of this websites content development on both an Apple G4 PowerBook & MacBook Pro running OS X (Tiger) and the other half on my Sun workstation running Solaris 11. More good news is that Apple will be submitting the upcoming "Leopard" to The Open Group for certification against the UNIX ‘03 product standard. Once approved Mac OS X will than no longer be a Unix based operating sytem, but a "true" Unix operating system.
But the bottom line for me is that as long as I don't run Windows I am happy. People who have never experienced an operating system other than Windows cannot understand what they are missing. I know most people don't want to be bother setting up and installing FreeBSD or some Linux distro, and would rather stay comfortably with the crap Microsoft sells (foists) on the market, but if you allow yourself the chance to think and try something different, like Mac OS X you won't want to go back.
Speaking of website development, I have done the majority of this website with BBEdit 8.7.2 for file editing on the Mac, Fetch 5.2.1 for file transfers on the Mac, gedit for file editing on Solaris, and good old vi for file editing on Solaris.
