Image shows a tweet with the header “and people STILL try to convince me Linux and Windows are better when the DATA clearly shows otherwise. SMH” with an image attached showing the following:
“Operating systems by current version” Mac OS: 14 Windows: 11 Linux: 6
but wouldnt lower numbers mean no one needed to fix & revamp a working OS?
higher numbers mean more fuckups than needed to be fixed until it was so broken there was no longer a way to code you way out, had to start right from the start!
It really depends on what versioning means for the project. If we are talking about semantic versioning then a lower number only means there haven’t been many breaking changes over time. Or that a lot of broken stuff has been kept that way because it would break compatibility.
You people be bringing Linux distro versions, which are indeed double digits, but the graph really be showing the Linux kernel version, not the distros. And Linux kernel version is indeed 6.7 at the time of writing this
In 2000, Steve Jobs announced Mac OS X as the operating system for the next 20 years. So they kept the version for 20 years and well… in 2020 they started to make the yearly updates be major version number updates again (instead of minor version numbers).
We don’t have a consistent convention as to what changes qualify for a version increment rather than update increment. A new kernel? A new interface convention? New icons for the mini-apps?
Windows 10 has more plug-and-play drivers than Win7 and Win8. It can recognize newer hardware and it can be installed natively from thumb drives. So a lot of features that were third party are now offical… long after I had access to the third-party libraries.
But then it combines the metro and the start menu. I never found a use for the metro.
Win11 is less operability and more DRM and more spyware.
For Apple and Microsoft, a new version is a new marketing season. It’s the same as the new iPhone, the new Subaru.
I assume Linux builds increment with significant operability additions, especially if they’re not fully backwards compatible. Since they’re released without charge the capacity to do more stuff is the only reason to upgrade to a new increment rather than preserving a stable version.
Which only adds bas relief to the point. Linus has no personal or commercial motivation to get people to get the hot new trendy thing. Linux isn’t motivated by built-in obsolescence the way Windows and iOS are.
In fact, their higher iteration indicators are a symptom of a disadvantage of the operating system, not an advantage.
It took Microsoft 98 attempts the first time! Then it took them an entire Millennium. Then 2000 attempts after that. And then after 12 more attempts, they’ve decided they need to change the keyboard… I’d say #14 ain’t too bad.
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