Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

General Discussion

Posted by Kevin Lee
Kevin Lee
1,238 Points

Which operating system to use?

Hi Forum,

To do the job of a web designer or to do the job of a web developer, is the operating system a concern?

It appears that everyone works in the Apple OS environment. Is Microsoft Windows acceptable?

Thank you for your reply, and sorry for such a novice question,

6 Answers

Chad Shores
PLUS
Chad Shores
Courses Plus Student 8,868 Points
Chad Shores
Chad Shores
Courses Plus Student 8,868 Points

Whichever you are most comfortable with.

Prabal Dutta
Prabal Dutta
1,862 Points
Prabal Dutta
Prabal Dutta
1,862 Points

These days most of the things are cross platform which means most of the programs are both Mac and Windows compatible. However, if you want a stable platform I would suggest go for Mac OS.There are many services which are running in Windows 7 or higher which a normal user may not know or is really useful which impacts the memory used.Mac is clean.Windows is user friendly(if you are new to computers).

Whatever you choose, be good in that.

All the best.

Ernest Grzybowski
Ernest Grzybowski
Treehouse Project Reviewer
Ernest Grzybowski
Ernest Grzybowski
Treehouse Project Reviewer

Hey Kevin,

I did about 4 years worth of web design and development on Windows. Windows does just fine, and I wouldn't worry about trying to jump into anything else if you are already set up with a Windows machine. I now use multiple computers for getting all of my work done and spend about 50% of my time in Windows, 30% in Ubuntu and 20% in OSX. When you are designing/developing there is really nothing that a Windows computer can't do vs a Linux/OSX machine. The only exception is the terminal.

Kevin Lee
Kevin Lee
1,238 Points
Kevin Lee
Kevin Lee
1,238 Points

Thank you so much for your helpful replies! Best Regards, Kevin

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

Whichever you are most comfortable with.

A big :+1: for this advice

Michael Guerra
Michael Guerra
558 Points
Michael Guerra
Michael Guerra
558 Points

These days, you can code on tablets, phones, and even directly on the web, so the OS doesn't really matter. The only time it matters is if you want to use OS specific software, but usually you can find comparable software for any OS.