PC Magazine: Comparing Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Red Hat Linux/Nautilus

PC Magazine did a comparison of Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Red
Hat Linux running Nautilus. Even though the reviewer said some nice
things about the Red Hat/Nautilus combo, the
final scorecard had Red Hat/Nautilus inferior to both Mac OS X
and Windows XP in ease of use, its feature set, device support, and
available software. Furthermore, the PC Magazine editors refused to
rate Red Hat in terms of backward compatibility, as “there are not
enough Linux applications to warrant this kind of a rating.” The
only category where Red Hat was deemed the equal of the other
products was ease of installation, where it was deemed equal to Mac
OS X. As the reviewer wrote:

“Nautilus is good, but it shouldn’t give the average PC user the
false hope that it makes Linux an uncomplicated ‘hands-off’
operating system. Nautilus is an enhanced file manager that makes
maneuvering around Linux easier, but it’s not a new OS. Any
advanced configuration task, such as installing a 3-D graphics card
or repartitioning a hard drive, will require a solid knowledge of
Unix/Linux–with Nautilus or without.”

As one might predict, PC Magazine solidly came down in favor of
Windows XP.

Red Hat/Nautilus review

Main article