I do all my program development on Linux and never liked Windows. However I recently attended two small-molecule crystallographic workshops where the large majority of the participants used exclusively Windows, and the ones who didn't use Windows used mostly Macs. I think the decisive advantage of Windows for them is the ease of downloading and installing the software from the internet, especially on laptops. Indeed some small molecule programs such as Olex2 (a widely used graphical GUI) perform automatic web updates unless you go to some lengths to stop them (i.e. just like Microsoft). The large majority of SHELX and shelXle (Christian Huebschle's GUI for SHELXL refinement of small molecules) downloads are for Windows, and Mac downloads clearly outnumber Linux. I suspect that a silent majority of CCP4 users actually also run CCP4, and especially Coot, under Windows!
George On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 02:55:22PM -0400, Bosch, Juergen wrote: > There's one piece of software that does not run on a Mac. > > GRAPHent > > I tried some years ago to port it to a Mac without success, that's the only > reason I have a dead PC (*technically it has Windows on it but I call it dead > as long as no linux is installed) in my office waiting to get some flavor of > linux since about 1 year. As under linux I never had troubles compiling it. > > Regarding $ US versus Europe > > How frequently do you change your linux boxes ? > I'm still running a Mac Laptop from 2004 which I bought for 2500$, only thing > I > had to do is replace the hard drive as the shipped 120 GB was way to small for > my needs. It now sports a 500 GB drive and runs 10.6. So considering it's been > running for 7.5 years now that brings the cost down to ~340$/year. I'm > anticipating to use that Mac at least for another 3-4 years before I think it > served my purposes well. Then in it's afterlife it will function as guest > computer for people visiting us from Europe :-) > > A Mac mini with Zalman serves as stereo workspace together $1000, has been > running three years now and it will surely continue to run for a few more > years. Sure I also have the MacPro's there the $-tag is much higher but you > also get a few more cores for your money and not everybody needs one of those > monsters. > > J rgen > > > On Sep 29, 2011, at 10:55 AM, Dima Klenchin wrote: > > > Simon Kolstoe wrote: > > > Meanwhile I think windows is slowly improving as a crystallography > > platform - and Microsoft is perhaps no longer hated in principle - > however > > the one student in our lab who opted to go the windows route seems > very > > limited in the software he can run. > > > I have a feeling that the lack of Windows software continues to be mostly > due to the irrational animosity toward it rather than the > platform-specific > issues. After all, there seemed to be many developers who were happy to > code for MacOS 7-9 but refused to release anything that runs in Windows. > Meanwhile, that is the only platform we never hear about installation and > dependencies issues. Given the large number of Windows versions of CCP4 > downloaded, I assume this is not because nobody actually installs Windows > software. > > - Dima > > > ...................... > J rgen Bosch > Johns Hopkins University > Bloomberg School of Public Health > Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology > Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute > 615 North Wolfe Street, W8708 > Baltimore, MD 21205 > Office: +1-410-614-4742 > Lab: +1-410-614-4894 > Fax: +1-410-955-2926 > http://web.mac.com/bosch_lab/ > > > > > -- Prof. George M. Sheldrick FRS Dept. Structural Chemistry, University of Goettingen, Tammannstr. 4, D37077 Goettingen, Germany Tel. +49-551-39-3021 or -3068 Fax. +49-551-39-22582
