Windows PCs Crash Three Times As Often As Macs, Report Says (techspot.com) 186
A workplace-device study says Windows PCs crash significantly more often than Macs, lag further behind on patching and encryption in some sectors, and are typically replaced sooner. TechSpot reports: Omnissa's 2026 State of Digital Workspace report outlines the IT challenges that various organizations face from the growing use of AI and the heterogeneous deployment of enterprise devices. The relative instability of Windows and Android is a recurring theme throughout the report. The company gathered telemetry from clients located across the globe in retail, healthcare, finance, education, government, and other sectors throughout 2025. The data suggests that IT administrators face frustrating security gaps due to inconsistent patching across a diverse mosaic of devices and operating systems.
Employee workflow disruption, often due to software issues, is one area of concern. The report found that Windows devices were forced to shut down 3.1 times more often than Macs. Windows programs also froze 7.5 times more often than macOS apps and needed to be restarted more than twice as often. Certain industries were also alarmingly lax in securing Windows and Android devices. More than half of Windows and Android devices in healthcare and pharma were five major operating system updates behind, likely leaving them more vulnerable to errors and malware. More than half of the desktops and mobile devices used for education were also unencrypted, putting students' privacy at risk.
Macs also last longer, being replaced every five years on average, compared to every three years for Windows PCs. Despite a recent backlash against Windows, driven by a push for digital sovereignty in countries such as Germany, Windows use on government devices actually doubled last year. Meanwhile, Macs using Apple's M-series chips showcase a significant thermal advantage, with an average temperature of 40.1 degrees Celsius, while Intel processors run at 65.2 degrees.
Employee workflow disruption, often due to software issues, is one area of concern. The report found that Windows devices were forced to shut down 3.1 times more often than Macs. Windows programs also froze 7.5 times more often than macOS apps and needed to be restarted more than twice as often. Certain industries were also alarmingly lax in securing Windows and Android devices. More than half of Windows and Android devices in healthcare and pharma were five major operating system updates behind, likely leaving them more vulnerable to errors and malware. More than half of the desktops and mobile devices used for education were also unencrypted, putting students' privacy at risk.
Macs also last longer, being replaced every five years on average, compared to every three years for Windows PCs. Despite a recent backlash against Windows, driven by a push for digital sovereignty in countries such as Germany, Windows use on government devices actually doubled last year. Meanwhile, Macs using Apple's M-series chips showcase a significant thermal advantage, with an average temperature of 40.1 degrees Celsius, while Intel processors run at 65.2 degrees.
smug Linux user enters the chat (Score:5, Informative)
Crashes you say?
Can't remember the last time I had one of those.
Windows and Linux both fine, its 3rd party drivers (Score:5, Insightful)
Crashes you say? Can't remember the last time I had one of those.
The same is true for my dual boot Windows / Linux boxes. Neither side crashes. It not the OS, its third party drivers that are typically the source of trouble. My DIY PCs have well chosen parts from reputable manufacturers, with good drivers for both OS. I've been doing this for 30 year. The only PC that had problems was the one I did not build, a school selected laptop. I configured it to dual boot and wifi was always flaky under Linux, crappy Linux drivers for the Dell vendor with the lowest priced component.
Similarly, macOS is pretty damn reliable for similar reasons, driver quality. With no slots, pretty much anything a users adds will be plugging into Apple's USB or Thunderbolt drivers.
Re:Windows and Linux both fine, its 3rd party driv (Score:4, Insightful)
Hey, believe it or not, that is actually the OS crashing.
The crash might occur in the driver, but it's still the OS crashing.
These driver crashes on Windows typically lead to having to reinstall/"repair" Windows. It takes a lot of time, and is a frequent occurrence. It's more common than it used to be in the W7 days by far.
I've been doing this for 30 years as well, and you're full of crap. Even with new, reputable (high end) hardware, it's a common problem.
Re:Windows and Linux both fine, its 3rd party driv (Score:5, Funny)
These driver crashes on Windows typically lead to having to reinstall/"repair" Windows.
Nah, literally something that hasn't happened to 99.99% of users in the past 20 years.
I've been doing this for 30 years as well, and you're full of crap.
Well there's your problem. Stop using Windows ME. It's very clear that if your windows is breaking to the point of needing a reinstall / repair and it's a "frequent occurrence" then my unfortunate sir, *you* are the problem. Not even TFA is talking about that.
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These driver crashes on Windows typically lead to having to reinstall/"repair" Windows.
Nah, literally something that hasn't happened to 99.99% of users in the past 20 years.
I've been doing this for 30 years as well, and you're full of crap.
Well there's your problem. Stop using Windows ME. It's very clear that if your windows is breaking to the point of needing a reinstall / repair and it's a "frequent occurrence" then my unfortunate sir, *you* are the problem. Not even TFA is talking about that.
Windows has been pretty damned stable since Windows 7 was released, that's 2009 for anyone not paying attention. Microsoft changed it so that one bad driver can't crash the entire OS.
Seems Apple is going all out with the paid propaganda of late... Because there's no way they're cheaper. If anything keeping hardware for longer makes it more expensive as you have to deal with more hardware failures, extended warranties, outages, et al. I suspect Apple is using very, very funny maths.
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Hey, believe it or not, that is actually the OS crashing. The crash might occur in the driver, but it's still the OS crashing.
Not when its a 3rd party driver.
These driver crashes on Windows typically lead to having to reinstall/"repair" Windows.
So your solution is removing the 3rd party driver and either not supporting the hardware or using a Microsoft driver. :-)
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Hey, believe it or not, that is actually the OS crashing. The crash might occur in the driver, but it's still the OS crashing.
Not when its a 3rd party driver.
A distinction with absolutely no difference.
I get it - Windows can never fail - we can only fail Windows. Meantime, you have a computer that crashed for some reason, and you have to deal with it. Tell your customer it isn't Windows fault, that will not likely make a difference.
The know one thing - a computer they bought because it is Windows, the largest installed user base, the mainstay and gold standard of industry, is sitting there, unless for the task and bringing productivity to zero.
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Hey, believe it or not, that is actually the OS crashing. The crash might occur in the driver, but it's still the OS crashing.
Not when its a 3rd party driver.
A distinction with absolutely no difference.
Nope. With respect to Windows vs Linux vs Mac crashes, higher Windows numbers are a result of 3rd party software. Linux and Mac have an advantage of being unsupported by a lot of crappy hardware/software.
I get it - Windows can never fail
Nope. Never said that. I said that on the exact same high quality hardware with 3rd party drivers from highly reputable sources, Windows and Linux are both highly reliable.
Meantime, you have a computer that crashed for some reason, and you have to deal with it.
Not when I get to pick the computer.
Tell your customer it isn't Windows fault, that will not likely make a difference.
Semantics. In this discussion among the technically inclined we are talking about crashes. Note arti
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Hey, believe it or not, that is actually the OS crashing.
The crash might occur in the driver, but it's still the OS crashing.
These driver crashes on Windows typically lead to having to reinstall/"repair" Windows. It takes a lot of time, and is a frequent occurrence. It's more common than it used to be in the W7 days by far.
I've been doing this for 30 years as well, and you're full of crap. Even with new, reputable (high end) hardware, it's a common problem.
I know people in the industry for decades who aren’t very good at just because you’ve been doing this for thirty years doesn’t mean there aren’t tens upon tens of millions of Windows users who basically never crash.
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Hey, believe it or not, that is actually the OS crashing.
The crash might occur in the driver, but it's still the OS crashing.
This. about 20 million times this. I had to chuckle at the "Its nowt Winders crashing, itz da dryvers!" excuse.
As if a hung system isn't a hung system no matter what caused it.
And the hell of it is that there are plenty of crash things not driver related. Like Windows updates. And with Windows 11, it is getting worse. Know why Windows is the only OS that has BOHICA updates, while MacOS and Linux allow you to install them on your schedule?
Because they have to force them on you. I'll update my non-wi
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I've had a bunch of crashes in Windows this year when gaming, I suspect nVidia drivers, because the crashes stopped after an update.
These were hard crashes that rebooted the computer all the way back to BIOS immediately after the game locked up.
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Other half of the dual boot: Linux hasn't crashed, although it has had random issues with starting up slowly, up to 2 minutes sometimes, or random dialog boxes and windows in KDE will lock up for 10 - 20 seconds and I can't interact with them. All kind of applications.
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Its 3rd party drivers? And anti virus programs And anti malware programs Both often worse for stability than the viruses Then various other endpoint protection tools that hack into the kernel (and take down all the airports in the process) It is the Windows design in the endâ¦
Not really. Like drivers, antivirus/antimalware can be done poorly too. My windows boot is as stable as my Linux boot, and I've been running antivirus for decades. And Linux is just as vulnerable to poorly written kernel level software Linux being someone ignore by hardware and software vendors helps, like with Apple, less 3rd party software to screw things up.
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Re:smug Linux user enters the chat (Score:5, Insightful)
On linux, sleep/hibernation is more like a Polish revolver with one bullet loaded. When it works, it works. When it doesn't, it really doesn't.
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I remember my last Linux crash. It was ca. 2010 and I told the kernel via parameter I had way more memory than was in the machine. Oh, you mean crash without gross user error? Hmmm. I had a few (not a lot) with some specific defective hardware. And I have been using Linux since 1995.
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Besides, without the card and/or the proprietary Nvidia drivers, absolutely zero crashes, however.
Linux is amazing in this regard.
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I was getting lots of crashes in Linux. I check the logs and it had some machine checks. so I ran memtest86+ (already in my GRUB config) and found a stick with uncorrectable ECC faults. replaced it, and it's running great now.
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Had one just this week. Of course we were zapping a Raspberry Pi with 8,000V.
That's the reason why Windows has more crashes. Very varied hardware. I had an issue where sometimes the machine would fail to come back from sleep or hibernation, which turned out to be because sometimes the PCIe link training either failed or came up with a different result for the GPU. Setting the BIOS to force it to PCIe 4 fixed it. Similarly a friend had random crashing which was fixed by running his RAM slightly below rated s
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Macs only do better because Apple tightly controls the hardware. Prebuilt Windows machines are probably similarly reliable, at least from people like Lenovo and maybe Dell.
Is Apple tightly controlling the hardware a bad thing?
I want computers that do not crash. And if the way to do that is having compatible hardware and compatible drivers, that is telling me something about what I want.
And it is less expensive as well. People with prideboners because their windows machine cost 50 dollars less than the "overpriced Mac crap" burn incredible amounts of money when their sensibly priced Windows Machines crap out. And if I'm called in, the burn rate goes even higher.
Lenovo
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It depends on what you want.. If you want a non upgradable appliance that kinda just works as long as you do it the Apple way, they are fine.
A computer should be an appliance. I have work to do. Spending time fixing a messed up Windows machine really wrecks productivity It only takes a few minutes of my burn rate and productivity loss to far exceed the cost of having a functioning computer.
The advantage of a PC is you can pick your components and upgrade them, but with the downside that you may have issues like the one I described.
For a hobbyist, maybe. For people making money and providing a service, computer downtime is a serious problem.
Colonel Panic (Score:2)
Colonel Panic says that smug Linux users should shut the fuck up.
-- Seg Fault
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Crashes you say?
Can't remember the last time I had one of those.
I have all three, and the only one that crashes are the Windows machines. Had my Mac mini over a year now, has not crashed once. Nor my linux machines.
So several crashes on Windows, none on MacOS or Linux.... I don't know how to make that calculation, feels almost like dividing by zero.
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That has nothing to do with "Linux" and everything to do with whatever software is managing your network. All the Windows-emulating network managers take away your freedom.
In FreeBSD, network interfaces are initialized at boot time and any configuration changes require re-running the startup scripts ala "service netif restart ". That will flip the interface up and down, but you're going to lose the connection anyway when the dhcp client runs. You can run the client manually, if you want, but you'll still lo
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The first thing I do on installing Linux is nuke NetworkManager and it's ilk.
Re: smug Linux user enters the chat (Score:4, Informative)
You just conflated desktop environments with a specific application. Linux has probably a dozen desktop environments that are superior to Windows.
Linux does not have a raster image program on par with Photoshop, but that is probably why you do not see any graphic designers using Linux. It is easy to take shots at GIMP because this community developed program cannot match up, feature for feature, with a multi-billion dollar Photoshop. But there are a great number of community led projects that blow their proprietary counterparts out of the water.
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I actually run usability tests for Gimp because I assumed it would have horrible usability issues. To my surprise there were no usability issues, it was easy to use for both experienced Photoshop user and to a user that is new to photo editing. The tests were obviously tailored for each use case, so new user was not requested to do complex things, but experienced users were.
Only 3 times as much? (Score:2)
Damn, Windows has really improved in the last 25 years. Wouldn't know since my last Windows was Win2k and my computers only run macOS or Linux and have crashed less that 10 times combined in the last 20 years or so. A well, whatever. Good for people still using Windows, I guess.
Re: Only 3 times as much? (Score:3)
25 years ago Apple was still OS9
It was constant crashes that required reboots.
OSX came out almost exactly 25 years ago and within 18 months (as software moved to it) changed the whole story.
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OSX is based on FreeBSD. Of course it changed the whole story.
Re: Only 3 times as much? (Score:2)
Yes.
Using the kernel developed by Next was a huge deal. It doesn't change the fact that 25 users ago Apple was an absolute mess (thus the need to purchase Nexr for the OS (and CEO).
Os9 was an absolute outdated disaster.
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You're just a tad off on your timeline. 25 years ago is 2001 and Apple is roaring back, with the success of the iMac under its belt and the iPod just months away from release. Jobs has been back at Apple for 4 years and was already making significant progress at turning the ship around. OS X has been released and exists alongside System 9 on shipping hardware; System 9 is actually *more* stable and usable than the first few versions of OS X, which lacked significant functionality that pro users were accusto
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I had that hybrid setup on my PowerPC laptop where OS9 and OS X could run together. I still have the laptop and boot it up occasionally, but upgrades eventually removed the legacy OS. I wish I left it in that original state since it's just a toy museum piece now.
Re: Only 3 times as much? (Score:2)
Though Apple started getting relevancy again with the iMac and iPod of the late 90s. It was stuck with OS9 which made Windows 98SE and especially Windows 2000 look great (Windows ME not so much).
OSX came out 25 years and 4 days ago (I just checked), I think your timeline is optimistic by a couple of years when the whole software ecosystem (except quark xpress) got moved over.
Early on the best example of OSX native software was MS Office and not much else.
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Except MS Office was based on Carbon, not Cocoa. So it was basically OS 9 code that had a prettier face on it. But you could always tell Carbon apps as they never looked or acted quite like a normal Cocoa-based OS X app would.
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Windows 11 is an absolute shit show. I don't care how fast your hardware is it is so painfully slow
I upgraded my gaming PC awhile back from 10 to 11. I honestly haven't noticed any difference in game performance. I get that around these parts Windows 11 is the devil (and I have a also friend who absolutely refuses to use anything newer than 10), but I really don't feel one way or the other about it. If anything, I'd say Windows 11 is kind of boring as far as OSes go - it's just kind of there.
Windows is crashing because? (Score:3, Interesting)
This issue needs to be investigated in MUCH more detail.
I don't have crashes.
Re:Windows is crashing because? (Score:4, Informative)
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I suspect Windows supporters will claim Mac users are less intelligent, which would suggest they do MORE stupid things. And if stupid things correlate with crashes, Macs would crash more.
But they don't. So somebody is wrong about something, or there's more missing information.
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Anecdotally, the only crashes I've ever had on MacOS were due to HDMI and cheap USB dongles. Find a combination that works and you're not going to have problems. I've been a consistent MacOS user since 2017.
Haven't had a single issue in years, on Apple Silicon.
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The most recent crashes I've had were all due to external hardware. (usually a dock being unplugged) I haven't seen that recently though so maybe that was addressed.
I've also had issues in the past with not going to sleep / waking back up properly, but again haven't really seen that recently so maybe that too was addressed.
Pretty much 100% of my recent related issues have simply been "system's getting slow, and no my memory hasn't all leaked away, it just wants a restart", and so I DO restart it, and I get
Macs are closed, like NUC, which helps reliability (Score:2)
I suspect Windows supporters will claim Mac users are less intelligent, ...
Nope. They'll point out that Macs are typically closed boxes where Apple has total control, and supplies all the drivers. Anything the user adds will be USB, thunderbolt, or HDMI.
Pretty much like an Intel or ASUS NUC. The NUC being pretty reliable too as a result.
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I suspect Windows supporters will claim Mac users are less intelligent, which would suggest they do MORE stupid things. And if stupid things correlate with crashes, Macs would crash more.
But they don't. So somebody is wrong about something, or there's more missing information.
The meme of Mac Users as stupid is just that - a meme.
The most adroit computer users I know use MacOS and Linux. I group them together because MacOS is Unix, and Linux is Unix-y. Despite the meme of the retarded Mac User, and the smug Linux user, these are power users. I spend almost as much time in Terminal on My Mac as I do in the GUI - sometimes more.
My present Mac Mini has never crashed. Had for over a year now (M4) My newer Lenovo has had update issues, kidnapped files and put them on one drive, c
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These things include:
- booting
- rebooting
- using basic high quality hardware (asus/mb/msi boards w/ corsair/crucial memory, nvidia GPUs, seasonic PSUs)
- installing drivers
I've seen crashes on W10/W11 on each of these, sometimes (often) requiring "repair" that fails, and a reinstall (of the OS). Multiple machines.
I just won't do it anymore.
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During normal operation (i.e. not trying to overclock my RAM), I don't really see crashes. There may have been one when I was updating my video driver. Maybe a couple when playing a game? Anecdotal, but my Win11 machine is pretty stable.
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Windows is crashing because users are doing things that cause crashes.
Yes and no. Often it's driver related. That thing that users are doing may be as simple as running a set of buggy NVIDIA drivers, or a game with kernel level anticheat shit close to release date.
Its easy to blame the user here, but ultimately the user is doing normal user things. There's a lot of blame to be given to developers if a user is able to crash their system doing something they are supposed to be doing and should be expected to do.
(My last had crash to a forced restart was on a Helldivers II load
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The first mistake the user did was open their wallet. They bought a PC with shitty unstable Windows drivers. Microsoft will still sign buggy drivers. And they don't hold vendors accountable for fixing and maintaining drivers, so if all your bugs aren't squashed in a couple of years you will have a computer that is never really going to be stable.
The story on Linux is different. You have to work really hard to hunt down a machine where the hardware is supported. Ideally because the vendor open sourced and up
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Windows is crashing because users are doing things that cause crashes. This issue needs to be investigated in MUCH more detail. I don't have crashes.
So..you don't actually do a damn thing with Windows computers? Hence the reason you don't have crashes?
Hey, your logic. Not mine.
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Users should never be able to do things that cause crashes in the same way that drivers should not ever be able to press any button or press any pedal that causes the engine to spontaneously burst into flames.
I don't have crashes.
I'm also a Mac user, but let's not boast here, shall we?
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A fair number of considerations... (Score:4, Insightful)
One, how much is owed to dubious hardware vendors that don't even play in the Mac ecosystem.
The "lasts longer" is not necessarily a statement of durability, it's mostly about being a prolific business product and business accounting declaring three year depreciation.
I'm no fan of Windows and don't like using it, but these criteria are kind of off.
Re:A fair number of considerations... (Score:5, Insightful)
One, how much is owed to dubious hardware vendors that don't even play in the Mac ecosystem.
Same for Linux, many of these dubious hardware vendors only support Windows, so Linux dodges that bullet too. 3rd party drivers are usually the source of the problems, Windows, Linux, or Mac.
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The only 3rd party driver I can remember ever having used for Linux is nvidia ..
Well, that and some wifi firmware bits and bobs a long time ago.
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Ah, yes, fiddling around with NDISWrapper. Nowadays NDIS is our national disability insurance scheme...
Back in the dialup era, I had a 'soft' modem that only worked with a particular kernel.
But today, I battle with DVI over USB with DisplayLink.
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One, how much is owed to dubious hardware vendors that don't even play in the Mac ecosystem.
Not dubious, just run of the mill, but also it goes beyond that. Most crashes you get are driver / hardware related. Apple does hardware qualification, users don't. Heck half the time not even the likes of Dell or HP test their systems properly, nor release proper drivers.
Also how many of those crashes are related to fast paced update of graphics drivers? NVIDIA releases a new game ready driver every few weeks, often buggy. Games are released in a dodgy state that often crash and due to their inclusion of k
That's a good sign. (Score:2)
I'm going to call BS on the CPU thermal numbers though. Unless Intel has managed to get it down from 100.
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The survey's sample sizes would've been the same. Shitty drivers and hardware would explain most of the imbalance. M$'s gung-ho approach doesn't help though. They're constantly having to re-adjust when reality clubs them on the head.
That's not apples to apples (Score:2)
define 'crash' (Score:2)
System crash/panic with reboot? Or just application abnormal termination?
Three hundred, they mean? (Score:2, Informative)
I have Macs, a Windows laptop, and several Linux laptops and workstations.
I think I remember a few crashes per year in the last 16 years I have been using Macs. Caveat - I reboot them when I see signs.
Linux boxes are more stable than Macs. I do not have to reboot at least once every two months because it's starting to slow down.
Windows has problems every single week.
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I think I remember a few crashes per year in the last 16 years I have been using Macs. Caveat - I reboot them when I see signs.
iOS is like this, too. It rarely completely crashes, but often just starts acting a bit squirrely and you've gotta reboot the device to clear up the issue.
I run my home media server on an old ASRock DeskMini (connected to an external hard drive array, obviously) that's running Windows 10. It literally is more reliable than our power company, because the only time it gets rebooted is during outages (and I'm too cheap to buy a UPS for it). Granted, that's doing nothing more than running the OS and a server
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Windows has problems every single week.
What problems? If your system is going down every week then something is either fundamentally broken (maybe a good time to reinstall) or you have some dodgy hardware. Windows is by far less stable than the others, I'll give you that, but not to the "every single week" level of unstable.
10 vs 11 (Score:2)
Windows 11, on the other hand, probably 1 crash per month on the same hardware.
and you need pro systems apple is not for you! (Score:2)
and you need pro systems apple is not for you!
Is anyone surprised? (Score:2)
crickets.
And not to forget how long a MAC lasts either (Score:2)
My Macbookpro is still going strong after 10 years.
My beefed up iMac is 16 years old.
Ok, they were probably 2x as expensive as a PC with similar specs but they are worth every penny.
Especially if you can buy them 2nd hand for a few hundred dollars.
Stability is not the issue (Score:2)
However, my personal MacBook Air is still vastly superior to my company-provided HP laptop in all other aspects :
I suspect that even a MacBook Neo would be much better than the PoS that I have to use for work
Hardware matters (Score:5, Insightful)
How many different laptops and desktops does Apple need to validate their OS on?
And how many different laptops and desktops does Microsoft needs to validate their OS on?
Or really, how many different hardware companies bother testing last year's hardware with this year's update to Windows? Not just desktops and laptops but also GPUs and any other expansion cards.
Apple has it easy by comparison.
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Not just hardware, but drivers and software as well. How many Mac users run software with kernel level dumbfuckery like easy-anti-cheat or some anti piracy crap? How many Mac users update to a new GPU driver every two weeks? (Multiple of which have been subject to a recall / downgrade advice over the past few years).
Because OS X... (Score:3, Informative)
... is derived from FreeBSD. Microsoft could have saved the world literally trillions of dollars over the same time frame if they had done the same.
Long live BSD.
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Re: Because OS X... (Score:2)
Probably. I've always wished Microsoft would have "ported" the Windows UI to basically be like KDE or Gnome, and runnable on any linux distribution. Even being non-free, closed source, I think that would have been a successful product. Obviously it doesn't fit with their profit model of pushing Windows Server, but these days it is even more viable.
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Plus they would loose a lot of control over the eco-system that they have now. In the grand scheme of things Windows doesn't cost them a lot of money and it gives them the ability to push standards.
Revenge? (Score:2)
Windows devices were forced to shut down 3.1 times more often than Macs.
Maybe it's the ghost of Windows 3.1 haunting Microsoft for giving it such a shitty legacy.
Then again, perhaps it's the essence of MacOS, taunting Windows users.
Hello Capt. Obvious (Score:2)
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There is a simple reason (Score:2)
Because most of the IT staff isn't anywhere near qualified to be IT staff OR the company actively prevents it's IT staff from doing well. These are companies that will either buy 1 Mac or 3 Windows PCs for the same price. They think 3 PCs is better value. Then they load it up with 3rd party, niche software and drivers that are coded like shit and wonder why it performs like shit.
Macs Don't Crash, They Freeze (Score:2)
The
Would be nice to know... (Score:2)
If the study reported on how much time was spent using Windows overall versus Macs. Because that makes a big difference. If there was, say, ten times the usage of Windows than MacOS, then affects the overall uptime.
Without this, the numbers don't have the context to really make a lot of conclusion. Not to mention that this probably all self-reported numbers as well.
It's Windows 11 (Score:3)
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Same. I have had hard freezes on Win11 with hardware that never have any trouble under Win10.
Unbelievable (Score:2)
Whatever. (Score:2)
Daily I run mac, windows, and Linux systems. I’m not a a fanboy to any of them. “The right tool for the job” is my motto.
I dunno (Score:2)
As much as I like to bash on Windows as the next guy/gal I gotta say since Windows 7 service pack 1 crashes in Windows had become nearly non-existent for me. My oldest son has been running Windows 10 for over 5 years with no crashes to speak of. My younger son has been using Windows 11 for a few years and his crashes have always been due to faulty updates from Microsoft. Windows got pretty stable around 2011 (minus the faulty update crashes as mentioned). I still maintain a Windows 7 box in the house for ol
just 3 times ? (Score:2)
My personal guess would have been at least 10x. Did Microsoft bribe the study authors?
Hardly surprising (Score:2)
But I'd rather have choice and the freedom to buy hardware that suits my needs & budget than be stuck in a golden cage.
Knew this for 35 years...Mac owner (Score:2)
Crashed? (Score:2)
Does no one remember? (Score:3)
Remember when you could, in System 6.0.7, and still in System 7, copy a file to a floppy (in MultiFinder), then from the floppy, then back to the floppy, and so on for a few minutes, and your Mac would hard crash. Remember?
As a tech I had a few tricks to crash Macs without any software. Just stupid Mac tricks. Not overflowing a disk, either, that was a stupid Windows trick.
Macs were not and are not yet infallible. They enjoy a huge advantage over Windows - control of the hardware. Windows suffers a multitude of hardware drivers, written by who-knows, and every significant attempt by Microsoft to insulate the kernel from bad driver behavior failed up to Windows 8. Mostly.
But it's sport to bash Windows. Has been since about Linux kernel 2.0, which if you were around then, you know was the pot calling the kettle black.
Windows has many flaws to hang your beanie on, but considering the requirements, it's remarkable. Not as remarkable as Linux, which somehow has become so despite (virtually) no paid developers. And I've used Linux since Slackware something like 0.9, which was not 'officially' distributed, and sort of worked. But it hooked me on Linux. Using Windows since the Mach 20 board and Windows 2.0, I've suffered but persisted. Felt bad for WordStar, WordPerfect for Windows, and some other software that never quite made it. Anyone remember Jazz?
Still, bashing Windows is easy. Anyone care to be similarly honest about X11?
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Given that Slashdot posted and article about something quite obvious. I am wondering if you are competing with Slashdot editors for the official captain obvious title. /s
Nope. Server hardware runs both very well. (Score:3, Insightful)
Windows is an unstable, insecure cluster bleep of an operating system, we know this!
Quite the opposite since the WinNT line of the family came out. I've been dual booting WinNT/Linux since the mid 1990s. Both Windows and Linux ran fine on my DIY PCs where I pick good parts from reputable vendors that directly support both OS.
Crashes are usually 3rd party drivers, both Windows and Linux. Linux dodges some of that disaster by the shittier hardware/drivers from budget hardware vendors not supporting Linux. In the last 30 years my only flaky PC was not DIY, it was a school selected laptop,
Re:Nope. Server hardware runs both very well. (Score:4, Interesting)
I was configuring group policy yesterday, all day, and the number of things that are either active or not restricted, is mind-blowing. Page after page of options that should be "Block - Enabled", or, "Security Enabled", by default, that you need to go in and set enabled, why? The number of options of protocols, encryption, caching, temping files, and so on, that should be blocked by default, again, head shaking. There are a few policies to prevent exposing your user details and notification on a lock screen, WTF? Why aren't those off by default?
I can understand that you might want those settings on, so, turn them on. Why not start with a reasonably secure baseline, and allow the user to pick what they want? Don't go full on bunker isolation mode, you'd already be running Qubes OS if you wanted that, just sensible, reasonable, medium security.
After all the stuff I've changed since November 2025, zero users have complained, which means all the settings should have been restrictive by default.
I can kind of support the cost argument Windows Server is expensive, but it's also bloated, and slow. I can count on zero hands the number of times I've wanted a GUI on a server, zero. I want my servers to serve things, not spend resources on the server OS, and I really can't afford for the servers to update, and become unresponsive, which is a known and accepted issue on Windows. The other reality most servers run a Unix or Linux variant, if Windows was ready for the server room, it would have the server room, and it's failed.
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I was configuring group policy yesterday, all day, and the number of things that are either active or not restricted, is mind-blowing. Page after page of options that should be "Block - Enabled", or, "Security Enabled", by default, that you need to go in and set enabled, why?
Part of it is probably how inconsistent and confusing Windows group policy is designed and phrased. There are so many policies where the setting is not enable or disable with one of those as default. Rather the options are "do not allow" or "not (do not allow)" with the default unclear as to what it does. I swear sometimes the option has to be read as a triple negative.
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Google Windows 11 is a disaster and find out how everyone is wrong.
Here's your problem.
There is your problem above. While you focus on a monovariant, that for some reason, the only problem is drivers.
The topic is crashes, in case you haven't noticed the article title. Guess what it usually responsible for crashes, Windows, Linux, and Mac?
And if all the problems are the users fault, they can migrate to an OS where they don't cause all those problems.
Now you are getting to the real problem. People favor what they already know, and foolishly try to replicate the ways of one platform on another. They fight the platform. Problems result.
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The topic is crashes, in case you haven't noticed the article title.
Topics do drift you know. Perhaps I have a different metric, but an Update that causes programs to stop working, renaming files, placing programs and files to OneDrive.
The effect is remarkable similar to a crash. And to me, a failure of Windows that I do not have with Mac or Linux
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1. It's a general use OS meant for idiots who think there is a literal "any" key.
Now, now. Was that really necessary?
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Have you ever noticed why no one celebrates Patch Tuesday in the pub? It's because they're waiting by consoles waiting for stuff to break.
Windows, client and server, are a house of cards. This goes far back in history. The citations you challenge are each provably wrong. Ever wonder why the cloud isn't rife with Windows servers? There's a reason for that. Cloud Native Windows is almost an oxymoron. Linux and to a lesser extent, BSD, have taken over that space.
In so many ways, Windows is now a legacy data OS