Best operating system for Java Developers?
Phoronix has an interesting benchmark comparing Java on Ubuntu GNU/Linux 8.10 / OpenJDK, Ubuntu 8.10 / Sun JDK and Windows Vista /Sun JDK. The figures and numbers are quite impressive, and so is the conclusion:
…
Well, Java on Ubuntu was pretty much the hands-down winner compared to Microsoft Windows Vista Premium SP1. Running the Java tests on Ubuntu had experienced significant advantages when it came to file encryption, Fast Fourier Transforms, Successive Over Relaxation, Monte Carlo, and the composite Java SciMark performance. In only the Sunflow test were the results between Ubuntu and Windows even close. With the Java 2D Microbenchmark, Windows was faster but that likely falls on the Intel Linux graphics driver having little in the way of performance optimizations and Java on Linux not yet utilizing the X Render extension.
…
Maybe this eventually could be extended in the future to (a) also include OpenSolaris and MacOS as platforms and (b) also feature performance tests of a full-blown Java EE server environment. But then again, maybe at some point it simply will become way too complex and unmanageable. Maybe a first good variation of this comparison already would be using operating systems optimized and tweaked by administrators who know their job rather than going with the “default” settings. But overally, of course, I like the outcome so far. 😉