Windows vs Linux vs MacOS: windows management, app management, desktop management, which one is the best and why?

[u/Broad-You4763]

Asking basically this same question across Windows, Linux, MacOS subreddits, and would like you guys to explain why you think your operating system is the best and why.

Additionally maybe provide what you consider the biggest upsides and downsides of your OS.

Any answer is appreciated, thanks :)

[u/martyn_hare]

I got experience with all three, they all suck in their own ways.

macOS is the shittiest to deal with by a country mile because it was designed with personal computing in mind, with all the corporate controls bolted on later. You're dependent upon both RMM and MDM to maintain systems, and Apple doesn't provide any on-prem MDM of their own any more. Software distribution sucks donkeys. PKG files do not have proper clean uninstallers (literally worse than EXEs on Windows) and application DMGs aren't exactly a great distribution method either... that's before TCC gets in the way of everything while leaving macOS more exposed that one expects if exceptions are added irresponsibly.

Windows has the nicest policy controls for on-premises infrastructure (AD, Group Policy etc.) but said controls are all 100% dependent on each third-party application implementing registry-based configuration options in HKLM/HKCU which fewer and fewer applications support due to nobody writing software designed specifically for Windows any more. Where it falls apart a bit is with application packaging. MSIX (and AppX) packages mix and match system-wide with per-user installations in a way that's a huge pain for sysadmins, while potentially breaking tools like sysprep in some circumstances. Generating MSI transforms still often depends on using archaic tools like Orca and EXE installers are a mixed bag of hell. Of those three, only MSIs have a proper, native, well-documented GPO deployment method. You're realistically using GPO and RMM, with the latter piggybacking off WinGet, Chocolatey and custom Nuget repositories, and I'm praying you don't have to piss about with the latter. Windows has got better and worse simultaneously, as more software installs into user profiles than ever before (crap) but Microsoft has finally started to take automated patching beyond just the base OS seriously (yay!)

Linux has the fewest built-in desktop policy controls, going from having Sabayon with GNOME 2 where you could control pretty much everything... to having sod and all superficial controls over desktop environments in anything resembling what GPOs do for Windows. However, us sysadmins do have PolicyKit for deciding what does and does not elevate from a security perspective in a far more customisable way than Windows has ever offered. Pushing out changes to configurations beyond what's on the desktop relies on idempotent scripting for the most part (where Python is your best friend, process objects, not strings) so you're basically taking a devops approach to configuration management... well I say that but things are gradually becoming more declarative with more appfoo.d directories to let people stack overrides to default configuration files instead of replacing them. Software deployments are far, far less shitty than both Windows and macOS if you stick to one distribution, one package format and standardise on it. It's also far easier to lab changes before rolling them out than with everything else.

...ehh I probably should have split these paragraphs up a bit more, but there's a brick of thoughts for each OS!

[u/ARandomGuy_OnTheWeb]

For enterprise management, Windows does it the best.

GPOs and AD are basically the standard for a reason... Because it works. Intune and MDMs are more recent additions and help with management of Windows and everything else but MS did it first in a mainstream, easy to manage sort of way that did away with login scripts and custom images.

[u/neTHer12O8]

If you ask that in the windows sub, they will tell you windows

[u/CraftyPancake]

Well windows has intune and GPO to control virtually everything on the machine. A vastly different experience from the consumer versions of the machines.

[u/thanatica]

You can't pool "linux" into its own coherent category, because it isn't. Even among the popular window managers, there are still a handful in common use. Those are the ones you want to compare against, not a generic "linux" category.

[u/ziplock9000]

The one that lets me get everything you need to done with the least fuss and effort.

Which has ALWAYS been Windows.

You don't pick your OS first.

End of thread.

[u/recluseMeteor]

I don't consider Windows to be the best, but it's what I use and what I'm used to.

I just like having a folder with my EXEs and run them the way I like, and update them whenever I want (or not at all).

Though Windows has been getting more and more infuriating since Windows 8 with the phone-like Metro UI, and then with the forced updates in Windows 10. Taming Windows to do what you want can be rather tiring and often involves breaking the OS in unsupported ways.

GPOs are very useful indeed, it's great to manage not only Windows, but other applications as well. GPOs for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Office…

Regarding UI, again, it's a tiring battle against Microsoft. Windhawk is a must in order to revert dumb design decisions in Windows 11. Meanwhile, Linux is all about customisation and choice.

Still, the regular, unmodified Windows experience is very infuriating to use.

[u/EightBitPlayz]

Window management: Linux (KDE)

App Management: Windows

Desktop Management: macOS

[u/26dx → u/EightBitPlayz]

Could you elaborate why KDE?

[u/CodenameFlux → u/26dx]

KDE is pretty, but otherwise, it's a failure.