Is Windows Really Any Good For Web Design

I am a qualified technician currently with 1 year of web design experience & feel windows is ever so awkward & annoying at times (Am not even going to mention Vista)';

My question is constant problems with webservers (Windows see's XAMMP's my.cnf file as a speed dial file so how do i enable innodb database setting!! Also setting up a manual webserver installing everythink seperetly sometimes works & cocks up on certain PC's even using the correct method!!

I no some people have no problems with using windows for web design from one year to the next, thats usually becuase they keep there settings and dont reformate there machine from one year to the next (A simple reformate can cause problems getting your beloved webserver working as it was, even using your old trusty methods of setting up the webserver manually or using XAMMP)

My question is simple: Is there anybody else here loosing faith in windows for web design use???

Also is MAC OSX a better operating system for web design???

Please provide me as much feed back on this as possible...

Cheers if only Linux had adobe apps

Windows is great for web design...

As far as hosting my websites I stick with Linux. If you have windows XP Professional there is no trouble at all with getting a testing server running on your pc, if you have home or Media Center, its a different story. Also, Vista is so bad, there are rumors of a new operating system coming out from Microsoft January of 2010, and it was ruled the largest OS failure since ME.

I've never seen a machine ever make a difference as far as the design goes. Some designers prefer macs, others windows, but their skills don't get better or worse depending on which machine they are on.

Thanks for the repley dude! I no vista is terrible, snd its not my skills that is the problem it appears that i have no end of bad luck when it comes down to setting up a webserver manually or using XAMMP!! I have set up webserver using both methods on freinds computers and it all works fine everytime, it just seems to cause no end of problems on both my machines..

Do you use XAMMP? Or install everthink seperatly- (mysql\PHP\Apache)

If using XAMMP do you have problems were the My.cnf file is picked up as a speed dial file when using XP pro???

If installing php\apache\mysql sepertly to create your webserver do you ever have problems adding the C:\webserver\php folder to the path of the Environment Variables???

The above problems seem to occur all the time using my systems but never on any of my freinds....

Any help you could offer would be cool...

Funny thing ... I have been designing for ... hmm ... almost 10 years now and I've never installed XAMPP or one of those things on my boxes at home.

I've always worked directly off the hosting servers.

10 Years cool (Bet you no loads then a)

I will have to look into what you mentioned above!!! I have been getting taught by a polish guy for the past 3 months & my skills are improoving rapidly thanks god!!! Thats why i have give you all a bit of peace the past couple of months..

Thanks for the info!!! An i already new u had 10 years experience you poser you!! Any chance of selling meyou brain

Take care

What different story is that!? I'm running PHP, MySQL & Apache on XP Home no probs

@longstand: I installed mine seperately without issues. I have tried XAMPP once, but actually preferred the control I had over it when I did it separately - it's just then I know what exactly I'm installing and where. Here's a guide to installing AMP.

And back to the topic - I agree with Justin, it's just personal preference. And of course, Windows is also good for browser testing

If you prefer actually seeing how things are done check out this link

http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=435

From the Lynda.com training library, the videos on installing and configuring WAMP are free to watch.

__________________

I run XAMPP on a portable hard drive, so that I have a basic server wherever I go. I got it from PortableApps and seems to run fine. It has a tutorial that I just followed and everything worked for me. I tried to install it on Windows Home Edition and it wouldn't work, tried it on Media Center, still nothing, then tried it on Pro and it works fine. Maybe it has something to do with the file systems, I have no idea. NTFS vs Fat32 ? Not sure really, but seems to run fine on my machine. Oh, and if you have installed MyApache on your machine then try to install XAMMP or visa versa the second installation wants to feed off of the other, so you need to wipe both off your system then start with one. I had that problem at first too.

Thanks All!!! I just downloaded a new version of XP Pro & my usual manul webserver installation worked

It was the operating system i was using called "LastXP" it looks cool an all but has its problems..... (Blag is not always cool i guess!!!

Thanks for all the help everybody....

Cheers JustinStudios