When I switched to Linux last fall, I cut down my visits here quite a bit because there didn't seem to be much interest in Linux around these parts. I still use XP (running in VirtualBox) for a lot of programs, but most of the little utilities I use are now Linux, not Windows and I did not think there would be much interest here in those.

I use Windows and Linux extensively, and it has always seemed to me that there is a general interest in all options on all the OSs. And, from that point of view, I do prefer not splitting into OS specific areas. And an increasing number of utilities are cross platform.

The one possible exception would be software. I think all current software is Windows based - and if there were any for other OSs it would be best in its own area. And the facility for that already seems to exist.

I wonder how many people have that same impression as you, and don't feel as if they are welcome here among the windows users? Perhaps we have forum members that have never posted for such a reason.

If there was a section for non-windows users, (perhaps with it's own coding snacks area, too?) we could see more members contributing posts that never did before, and even some non-windows coding snacks requests that non-windows developers could fill.

The way I see it, adding a section for non-windows would be branching out and a step towards expanding the site into areas not really covered before.

This is definitely something to give a lot of thought to before going ahead and doing it.

Thank you, app.
I agree 100000000000000% with this.

Heh, heh - looks like we need to encourage some Mac and Linux software development here! I'd support that, as I play with Linux occasionally (have a notebook I intend to turn into a dedicated linux machine, I just haven't switched it over yet) and have an iBook 

In this case, I think having separate OS pages for software downloads and for discussions of that software would make sense, but keep the forums otherwise "integrated"!

While I hate to say something that would be interpreted as being "biased against", I agree with a lot of others here that the best way to include MAC and *nix users is to *not* segregate them.

Fundamentally, any problem or solution for a computer is a problem or solution for users of all varieties of OS/hardware.  So I'd say, for discussion purposes and all of the stuff that comes *before* the coding, we should not break out into little groups that have a high potential for fracturing the community.  It's worth pointing out that I've seen little to no "camp-ism" or what others have termed fanaticism, here at DC.

Perhaps it would be worth a discussion forums for coders, once they get down to the brass tacks of coding, but even then, I see that as a method of segregation.  Like others, I'm always interested in hearing how others implement ideas on other platforms - quite often it sparks creative approaches I might have not otherwise thought of, or an exercise in Google-fu to find something new and interesting!

If you feel the need to skip less than relevant topics, we could always try a message header procedure where a simple [MAC] or [DEBIAN] or whatever style slug at the beginning of a subject line when posting, could help others winnow what they are not interested in.  But frankly, in my mind that's still a type of segregation that I think we could do without.

Cheers!

Fixing a double post and pointing to a new post related to this thread in aother thread:
Please see:

[ please click above link...
or maybe here: http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=18543.msg166243#msg166243

can anyone tell me the "proper" way to refer to a specific link in another thread (without including the entire other post here??

I hope I (finally) got it right, this time

Chuck