Umm, this isn't a bake-off, use whatever makes you happy and productive. I mainly use Windows and windows audio apps myself. But it's cool, to some of us anyway, to look at what's available elsewhere, and the open-source sphere is particularly interesting, and likely to become more mainstream in future.Reverse Engineer wrote:If someone could point out in simple terms the benefits of *nix over windows then you're likely to get (more) people to listen. So far not one single point has been made that gives *nix any added credibility.
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Apps?Maybe if you're into retro.
Since you asked, here's why I personally find Linux interesting and it's current (or potential) advantages. YMMV.
- it's free (GNU/Linux, BSD)
- the majority of the world's webservers are *nix boxes. Hard to argue with that as proof of reliability.
- the list of available free apps for Linux is approaching the variety and quality of commercial apps for the commercial operating systems (eg office suites, graphics, audio). You can actually get work done in Linux. Many goverments and corporations are moving to open-source.
- the latest Linux works better than the latest commercial OS's on older hardware. More life from old hardware.
- the planning behind Linux and the open-source methodology has resulted in a very stable, secure OS. Less stupid vulnerabilities.
- the open-source methodology has so far proved to be faster and more responsive in fixing bugs and vulnerabilities.
- open-source by definition provides open standards; less chance of getting locked into proprietary formats and protocols
- (political) It's eye opening and inspiring to find out that something of quality and value can be developed through cooperation from people all over the world, motivated mostly out of their desire to contribute to something. It's nice to find out that it doesn't always require money and patents and blind self-interest to achieve something. Gives one hope...
- it's fun. We all know from the forums here how cool it is to be able to interact with the makers of software (eg talking to Jules about Tracktion), to see your bugs fixed quickly, to have your suggestions accepted and implemented. Open-source takes it one step further - now you can contribute directly as much as you are able, from commenting and beta-testing right through to writing parts of the apps yourself.
If you think the Linux apps are all retro, you probably haven't tried them recently. Try Gimp for graphics, try Ardour and Rosegarden for audio/sequencing.
As I said before, use what you like and be happy. If you have tried Linux for audio, and you have some constructive criticism about it, let's hear it.
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