Post by Hauskaz on Aug 2, 2008 13:05:50 GMT -5
Microsoft has to cater to a gigantic pool of hardware. They have to ensure that their operating system works on everything it possibly can without issues. As such, they cannot optimize code specifically for certain configurations, as it may cause issues with other configurations, and is simply way too time-consuming.
That said, Aero is a pretty poor example of this. Seeing as it requires DirectX 9, it excludes a lot of older hardware that could otherwise run the operating system decently. Even with this exclusion. Aero's performance is poor with hardware that does support DirectX 9 or higher. Compiz runs rather faster and supports any hardware with OpenGL support (practically everything).
OS X is an interesting case since the same company makes both the hardware and the software. As such, they can cater to specific configurations as there is a much smaller number of them, and they are also the creators of these configurations. This is why Aqua on a GeForce 2 MX smokes Compiz on a GeForce 6200 or Aero on a GeForce 7800 GS. Apple (as well as Intel, AMD/ATI and NVIDIA since Apple has nice partnerships with these companies) can write specific optimizations for each Macintosh model supported by OS X, rather than writing general code like Microsoft and open source groups are forced to.
In the end, Compiz is my favourite though. Aero and Aqua don't offer any sort of user configuration other than base colour.
That said, Aero is a pretty poor example of this. Seeing as it requires DirectX 9, it excludes a lot of older hardware that could otherwise run the operating system decently. Even with this exclusion. Aero's performance is poor with hardware that does support DirectX 9 or higher. Compiz runs rather faster and supports any hardware with OpenGL support (practically everything).
OS X is an interesting case since the same company makes both the hardware and the software. As such, they can cater to specific configurations as there is a much smaller number of them, and they are also the creators of these configurations. This is why Aqua on a GeForce 2 MX smokes Compiz on a GeForce 6200 or Aero on a GeForce 7800 GS. Apple (as well as Intel, AMD/ATI and NVIDIA since Apple has nice partnerships with these companies) can write specific optimizations for each Macintosh model supported by OS X, rather than writing general code like Microsoft and open source groups are forced to.
In the end, Compiz is my favourite though. Aero and Aqua don't offer any sort of user configuration other than base colour.
