Hi Aleandro, in my opinion your doubts about Windows as a solid platform for web development are basically groundless. Probably you are intimidated by the large number of MacBook Pro you see at geek conferences ;)
Don't worry: appearances are often deceptive. I'm a practical guy and I can assure you that Windows is an OS as good for web development as Mac OS X or Linux. Indeed, as you will see, Windows is the *best* platform for web development because it is able to imitate every other major environment even though it retains its own strong identity. I think Microsoft should call the next Windows release Windows Zelig :) My suggestion is to stay with Windows for the following reasons: 1. Apart from the Apple niche, you will find Windows already pre- installed on every desktop/notebook computer on sale. In fact it is a "free" operating system. You can buy a beautiful Sony Vaio, a solid Lenovo ThinkPad, a Dell/HP computer or an inexpensive toy. They are all Windows machines and they are a lot cheaper than Macs. Moreover Windows just works with every hardware on the market: unfortunately you can't say the same for Linux... 2. As you already noted, Windows font rendering on screen, based on ClearType - so ugly in the eyes of Mac/Linux users - is the outcome of a long research effort aiming at improving the readability of long texts on low resolution LCD screens. As a programmer spending long hours in front of a computer screen writing and reading code, I can't praise more highly this wonderful technology. Moreover the recent ClearType font collection includes the popular Consolas font, probably the more beautiful monospaced font ever. Bill Gates is not a genius but he cares about your eyes ;) Apple's screen typography, based on a different approach, is more beautiful to see (typefaces are more loyal to their original design) but is clearly inferior to ClearType with respect to readability since letters lacks a decent sharpness on low res screens. (See www.microsoft.com/typography) 3. Every major text editor/IDE has a Windows version (vim, emacs, Komodo, Eclipse, Dreamweaver, etc.). In the rare event that a Windows version is not available (see TextMate) you will easily find a good clone (www.e-texteditor.com). 4. Adobe Creative Suite, an essential tool for Web Development/Design, is only available for Windows and Mac. At the moment Linux alternatives (gimp, etc.) lack some essential features and have a poor user interface. 5. If you use Subversion for your projects (I can't live without), TortoiseSVN (tortoisesvn.tigris.org), a Windows-only Subversion gui client, will make your life a lot easier. 6. For command line addicts Console (sourceforge.net/projects/console) is a fantastic and rich interface for the ugly Windows command prompt and, if you need Unix commands also, you can install Cygwin (cygwin.com), a Linux-like environment for Windows (also manageable through the Console's interface). 7. PHP, Apache, Python, Django, Ruby, Rails, MySQL, PostgreSQL and many other open source tools work smoothly in a Windows development environment, even though Linux remains the gold standard for production servers. Moreover if are a newbie, you can download InstantDjango (instantdjango.com), InstantRails (instantrails.rubyforge.org), EasyPHP (easyphp.fr), XAMPP (www.apachefriends.org): they all are Windows-only packages. Of course with Windows you will not be able to replicate your Linux production server on your computer but that's not vital. 8. On Windows you can install any browser to test your web pages: Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari, etc. No need for Parallels or other hacks. 9. If you need an SSH client, PuTTY (www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ ~sgtatham/putty) is an invaluable tool. 10. It's too late now: I have to left home. I hope my remarks can be useful. Bye, John. On 7 Feb, 09:49, Aleandro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, I'm a Windows XP longtime user but I have also Ubuntu Linux 7.10 > on my dual-boot computer. I've just discovered Python and Django and I > have to decide what os to use for web development with Django. > > In fact, while I use Ubuntu Linux on my production server, I'm really > satisfied with my Windows web development environment: > > - gVim, TortoiseSVN, the command prompt and all major browsers at my > fingertips (IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari); > - Python, Django and PostgreSQL/MySQL installed in just a few simple > steps; > - Adobe Photoshop; > - superb font rendering with cleartype and no wasted time installing > new hardware. > > Considering that the latest trend in web development is to use UNIX > based OSes (Linux or Mac OS X) also for the development side, I have a > simple and direct question for you: what are the tangible > disadvantages of Django web development on Windows compared with a > UNIX based OS? > > Thanks > Aleandro --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django users" group. 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