My $.02: Ham radio is one of the few fields in which I have actually been forced to consider dedicating a Windows machine to the hobby because only XP seems to be suitable for most ham-related tasks. But, IMHO, that's not because Windows is necessarily a *better platform* than any of the others for it .. it's simply due to the fact that there are a large number of people writing software for ham applications who write code only for WIndows and refuse to port to any other platform. (Rather notably, ARRL has been pretty cold to Mac owners in its own software offerings, and while I've heard a few rumors that that's in the process of changing, I haven't seen a lot of evidence of it in terms of actual code "on the ground", so to speak.)
Due to some extremely unpleasant experiences I've had with various versions of Windows in the past, many of which would obviously be repeated if I were to start using either XP or Vista at home, I'm extremely hesitant to bring home yet another machine to run Windows on just for a few ham apps. I've found equivalents that are compatible with Mac OS for a few such tasks, and it's pretty clear that most of what I'd have the most compelling desire to do that can't be done in Mac OS can be done in Linux rather than Windows, but it's been made very clear to me that ham radio is very much an exclusive Windows-only club at least in some ways. The reason "XP absolutely aces linux for the ease of use and ease of installation of the programs [you] need" is because there are a lot of people out there writing ham apps only for XP and so far none of those have been ported to other programs .. as soon as a critical mass of that user base migrates away from XP, that statement will no longer be true ..
On Jan 29, 2008, at 12:32 AM, don wrote:
Finally I use win xp and ubuntu for my amatuer work, and swap happily between them, but as a "tool user" for amateur radio win XP absolutely aces linux for the ease of use and ease of installation of the programs I need.
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