what OS do you use?

[Nataluna]

after suffering a major virus on the weekend and losing half my files (and a lot of sleep fixing it), i've changed my OS from windows XP to linux on my little netbook, and its actually a lot better than i remember linux being... so now i have access to windows, mac and linux :)

 

so i'm curious as to what everyone else uses, and if you have a preference? i prefer mac, but still learning the latest version, and some of the new features such as the multiple desktop thing drives me a little nuts.

[Xepha]

I'm currently using mac OS 10.7.2 (Lion) on my macbook pro. :P

 

At this time, I wouldn't want to go back to Windows, ever. But I'm opened to try Linux. ;)

[Tynach]

Ubuntu Linux for desktop use, Debian for servers.

 

I've been using Linux since roughly 2005, and while it was a bit bumpy back then, I can clearly see the progress it has made since then.

 

I'm curious what distribution of Linux you chose to install, as that has a great deal of influence on how easy it is to use, how fast it is, and how good of a desktop platform it is (as opposed to being geared toward servers).

[Crimson]

I have dual boot with Linux and Windows. I'm using Mandriva Linux, though it is kind of slower than say, Ubuntu (at least for me).

[Kaana]

Mac Lion on this, Windows Vista on the other laptop and used to have Windows XP running on an old desktop until it kicked the bucket last week. Used to have a laptop with Windows 7.

 

I don't mind using either the Mac or Windows 7. XP was good for its time, but Vista is horrible for me to use. It seems to hate me personally.

[Nataluna]

i originally tried a dual boot system several years ago, but found the command based interface difficult (i have the cd somewhere still) after that i got a Eee PC 701 which ran a specialised linux build (but the keys were too small and the interface was patchy in its accessibility and i only used it for a holiday trip before getting frustrated and selling it), and after i upgraded to a Eee 1000 found windows slow and laggy, but i stuck with it because its much easier to connect to my workplace wireless (linux has no support from my IT department) and because i needed the support for a couple of database programs i needed (which is not a problem anymore since recently they shifted to web databases, yay)

 

i've chosen to use EasyPeasy (Ubuntu) but also considered Aurora. so far its much faster than the windows, and it has firefox :) it was also written for the Eee PCs,

 

I thought the original free source concept wonderful, but really going back to Linux, there is so much more applications and support and distros available compared to when i originally tried it.

 

one of my workplaces uses windows 7, i haven't spent much time on it, its ok,

 

Mac is my favourite for personal use, but it and the windows computer are the family computers, so its kinda not worth fighting to use it when i do have my own.

[starrystar]

My laptop is running on Windows Vista. For practical reasons, I prefer Windows to Mac simply because the computer terminals at my university uses mostly Windows and I'm already used to the layout ad functions. Being a Chemistry student, most of the software or application that I use runs fine on Windows.

 

Haha ok mostly because I am too lazy to get used to a new OS.

[Spritzie]

I'm a Windows user. Always have been.

 

On my old desktop, I have XP. On my work computer I have Vista. And on my laptop I have 7.

 

Personally, 7 is my favorite. (I've used most Windows versions, starting from around, Windows 95, I think.)

[Tedhaun]

First off, I didn't know what you mean by OS until I found out it stood for Operating System.

 

The one on my laptop I currently use is a Windows 7, the computer in my family's living room is a Windows 7 as well. My old laptop (died due to a virus) was a Windows XP, and my family's old computer (dead due to random crashes) was a Windows 98.

[rachiee]

I use Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), my family's desktop has XP and my old (and dead) laptop had Vista, and also an uncountable number of viruses.

I made the switch to a Mac last year, and I love it so much that I'm never going to own another Windows computer again. (that is, if I ever need a new computer...)

[Sakabato]

I use a Windows XP.

 

Which is full of lag of course, I want a new one.

[Saxen]

Gahh all this tech speak makes my head spin a bit XD I'm using Windows 7, though I'm really tempted to get a Mac since every Mac user I've encountered is full of praise and whatnot :P

[Trig]

My laptop is Windows 7, which I really enjoy. I don't mind Mac stuff though, I find it easy to use but I dislike the differences in formatting between Windows and Mac.

[billpika_x8]

Windows 7. Nice interface, but Mac is good too, could consider a dual boot.

 

Nerd powers, activate! :nerd:

[Nataluna]

all the macs at my campus are dual boot, handy since the first time i used one i didn't even know where the power button was :P i'm glad apple have relaxed the rules regarding what their OS can be installed onto..

 

my gripe with mac is that a) they are expensive b) the first time i plugged a hdd into one it asked me about automated time machine, and i thought it would use blank space on the harddrive, it gave no notice, but it wiped that drive T_T it had some very precious videos of my grandmother who had died that summer, and since we had just traded the other computer in, that was our only copy (parents were furious)

 

for those interested in linux, there are quite a few versions which can be loaded onto a cd or a flash drive and can be booted without installing it onto a computer :)

[Ri-chan]

What I'm currently using for now is Windows 7. There's an old laptop at my house that uses Windows XP, but it seems it's not going to work well anymore.

[sakura_blossom221]

I have Mac OS X Lion (10.7.2) I really prefer Mac over Windows, but it does stick sometimes that a lot of programs can only be run on Windows. In my experience, there are MUCH more viruses on Windows. I've never gotten a virus on any of my Macs.

[Zorse]

I've always had windows, currently use 7 and XP. I really like the windows 7 it runs very smooth and very simple to use. I don't like macs, could never get used to them.

[Guest Yoshi_]

I applaud your use of Linux :P

 

My main laptop which I use everyday is a Windows 7 Home Premium

A desktop PC for editing is Windows XP Home Edition

A second laptop is Windows XP Professional (Its Pretty Useless since the product key is invalid)

Second Desktop PC is Windows Vista Home Premium

Virtual PC - Ubuntu (for testing purposes)

 

and more.

[Tynach]

As sorta a precaution, I presume some people here may be somewhat interested in Linux as an alternative to Mac and Windows - as such, I think it'd be fair for there to be a run-down of my own reasons why I use it, and why I think others should use it - and also about why I think some people should NOT use it.

 

Yes, Linux is actually really nice and I'd not survive very long without it now... But that doesn't mean it's a "One size fits all" thing. So first, I will give my reasons for some people to stay clear of it:

1. Weird Programs
   This isn't actually what you think it is. Sometimes when I say this, people assume I mean uncommon programs nobody has ever heard about, but that's not entirely it. I mean, Windows programs that... Don't act like normal Windows programs.
    
   You see, Linux DOES have a method of running Windows programs without emulation - called WINE - but it is still a work in progress. It works in a surprising majority of cases, but there are certain cases that it either does NOT work (when you would assume it would), or it does, but not well enough to actually use.
    
   An example of a weird program, is Photoshop. What? Almost EVERYONE knows about photoshop, it's common! Yeah, and they do some freaky things in that program. I'm glad they changed this, but at one time the copy protection system it had actually modified a special portion of your hard drive - usually reserved for a tiny little program to boot the rest of your system - that completely screwed up anyone on a Windows/Linux dual-boot system... Making your system unable to boot. And this was if you ran it in WINDOWS.
    
   Under WINE, Photoshop and other Adobe programs use their own style for buttons and other things, bypassing and not even using the standard Windows user interface calls.. Making it occasionally buggy since WINE has to have a recent implementation of the functions Adobe uses for the drawing of it's "Widget Toolkit".
    
   As of this writing, Photoshop CS2 does not work at all under WINE. CS3 works fine. CS4 doesn't work at all either. CS5 refuses to install, but there's a workaround that makes it run mostly just fine (once you manage to work around the failed installation). There is no word on CS5.5, but I imagine it's the same as CS5.
    
   
2. HEAVY Gaming
   Most games actually run fine in WINE. I play Portal 1/2, the whole Half-Life series, and myriad other games. Pretty much any game that uses OpenGL will run flawlessly. Most to all games using DirectX 9 or below will also run just fine. However, when you get into the complicated new things in DirectX 11, and a tiny bit in DirectX 10, you start to see... Glitches. Sometimes, you'll find people telling you to install things via "Winetricks" to get certain .dll files directly from Microsoft.com and put in the WINE folders, to help make your programs even run semi-properly.
    
   If you do heavy, DirectX based gaming, you'll likely have problems running Linux for that. I occasionally want to play a game like Crysis, and find myself rebooting into Windows. Luckily, WINE is improving every other week (their release schedule for their development, 'unstable' branch) - it wasn't long ago that Portal 2 didn't run at all in it, yet they patched that up pretty quickly - and the patch allowed for not only Portal 2 to run, but several other games - namely Duke Nukem Forever (in development ;p). Chances are, if your favorite game does NOT run under WINE right now, give it a month or two... And it'll at least have higher chances of being playable. If not, then within a year, they should have it working almost perfect. If not... Your game is just weird :P
    
   It should be noted, that games like World of Warcraft and RAGE, which are OpenGL based, will run just fine. Really, they run sometimes faster in Linux than on Windows.
    
   EDIT: Apparently, Crysis now works fine using WINE. Unknown about Crysis 2 with the DX11 patch.
    
   
3. Windows networks/workgroups/SMB
   This is a much lesser one, that I can't talk too much about - except that in the past, I've had issues with SMB sharing with Linux machines. Personally I just opted to use SFTP instead, but I realize Windows has no built-in method of handling this - so if you're on a heavily Windows-based network, there's a possibility that it'd be easier to just stick with Windows.
    
   However, that isn't saying it's impossible to use Linux - on the contrary, Linux is known quite well to integrate flawlessly with Windows networks, especially as a server. It's one of those 'must have' things in servers, and Linux does not fail in that area. However, the ease of use of such features - and the overal 'User Experience' may not be as good. Just a warning.
    
   Edit: Disclaimer - I have not tried anything with SMB/SAMBA in a few years. It is most probable this is no longer even a valid excuse. I'm just sharing what my experience was.
    
   
4. Other Minor Points - Expect more to be put here as I think of them (and if anyone here has suggestions to put here, I'll add them too):
   
   1. 
      
   2. If you can't stand button/menu layouts changing slightly
      
   3. If you get overwhelmed by too many choices (and you don't enjoy it)
      
   4. If you use a weird wireless card in your laptop/desktop
      

I'm not sure how this post will look, and I'm really tired here. Take that as a teaser, I'll write my reasons why you SHOULD use Linux later - but I think this is a smaller, more manageable list for now ;p

[Nataluna]

i only use my netbook for internet surfing, and use my windows desktop/mac for running all other programs i need, so it depends on your needs :)

 

i had originally wanted to give the netbook with linux to my parents because i had hoped it was an easier interface, but it has several interface issues that aren't user friendly such as program removal.

 

and the lack of program compatibility is why i still maintain a OS with windows, because even mac, while it has increasing support, alot of highly specific programs such as those used for medical imaging are written for a windows environment. most PC games are written for windows, mac has very few games available.

 

windows 7 runs also very well on limited resources, microsoft did alot of work to reduce the resources drain that was a major complaint regarding vista.

[roozie1]

Windows 7 service pack 1 and ios 8.0 beta

[maikrowsoft]

Windows 8.1 Professional Update 1 with Media Center (6.3.9600)

With VMWare Hackintosh for Xcode purposes

[beruichi]

I'm using Windows 7; been using Windows OS since 98. People keep saying Mac is very user friendly and much easier to navigate, but I keep getting lost whenever I'm using it. Maybe I'm just too used to using Windows, IDK.

[Avia loves Chias]

I'm using Windows 7; been using Windows OS since 98. People keep saying Mac is very user friendly and much easier to navigate, but I keep getting lost whenever I'm using it. Maybe I'm just too used to using Windows, IDK.

 

if you're used to windows, there's really no reason to switch, especially as a casual computer user. i'm using windows 7 right now, but i've used both windows and mac over the years. they're both user-friendly; you just have to get used to things being in different places. just for web surfing, minor gaming, etc., there's no advantage of one over the other. once you get into hardcore gaming/video editing/programming, the differences between the two start to come out.