what is your favourite operating system

[daveh75]

The '90s called, and wants its meme back...

 

[Jasonovich]

View attachment 7572

Switch to Window's OS, rebooting will increase multi-fold and I'm pretty sure it'll put a smile on his face

 

[Friesiansam]

Switch to Window's OS, rebooting will increase multi-fold and I'm pretty sure it'll put a smile on his face

I’ve used every version of Windows, from 3.11 for Workgroups to W10, missing only 8 &8.1. Stability has not been a problem since W XP and, even ME was more stable than it’s reputation suggests.

 

[Jasonovich]

I’ve used every version of Windows, from 3.11 for Workgroups to W10, missing only 8 &8.1. Stability has not been a problem since W XP and, even ME was more stable than it’s reputation suggests.

I was just being mischievous 😂
Since MS switched to NT kernel, I believe the launch of Windows 2000, it's been rock solid.
Also 64 bit instructions set has made it more so, i.e wider instructions less work load.
From personal experience, Windows Millennium and versions preceding that was a bit wobbly on multi tasking and yes the big BSOD.
What was that IBM OS which was supposed to complete with Windows? Oh the name escapes me, I flirted with that for short time, it was quick and lean but got the impression it was still in beta. It had showed some promise but like Lotus 123, Word Perfect or any software competing with MS it was sure to fail.

 

[Timbot]

The '90s called, and wants its meme back...

But I'm sure you'll agree that nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

 

[Timbot]

I’ve used every version of Windows, from 3.11 for Workgroups to W10, missing only 8 &8.1. Stability has not been a problem since W XP and, even ME was more stable than it’s reputation suggests.

I too have ridden the wave from 3.11 to 95 to98 then to XP, Vista, Windows 7, Window 10 and now Windows 11.

Our first PC, after BBC Micro system, Amstrad (not sure of the model but it had a 5 1/4 inch floppy disc drive) and Amiga 500 was a Viglen with a Pentium 90. It was one of the first pentiums as most other people had 486s back then. We started with DOS and Windows 3.11 but then upgraded to Windows95. What a palaver that was! Windows 95 and Windows 98 were a nightmare to network as everything had to be set up manually and if there was the slightest mis match somewhere then nothing worked (who didn't love a LAN party, right?)

Once the NT type operating systems came out (I think that's Vista onwards but possibly XP onwards?) the networking became a bit more "plug it in and Windows will sort it".

The other thing that has been amazing is the change in processing power. We went pentium 90 then 233 then 866 etc. The increase in power then was huge. Nowadays I doubt most people would notice much difference between a processer from the current gen and something 5-8 years old. Every year back then you could triple your processor power which was transformative. Now you can save power and get some marginal gains but I feel that it only really benefits those who game or have processor hungry requirements.

So my "favourite OS"? Not sure I'd ever call an OS a favourite as it's just an OS but I'd probably plump for Windows XP if I had to pick one.

 

[Jasonovich]

I too have ridden the wave from 3.11 to 95 to98 then to XP, Vista, Windows 7, Window 10 and now Windows 11.

Our first PC, after BBC Micro system, Amstrad (not sure of the model but it had a 5 1/4 inch floppy disc drive) and Amiga 500 was a Viglen with a Pentium 90. It was one of the first pentiums as most other people had 486s back then. We started with DOS and Windows 3.11 but then upgraded to Windows95. What a palaver that was! Windows 95 and Windows 98 were a nightmare to network as everything had to be set up manually and if there was the slightest mis match somewhere then nothing worked (who didn't love a LAN party, right?)

Once the NT type operating systems came out (I think that's Vista onwards but possibly XP onwards?) the networking became a bit more "plug it in and Windows will sort it".

The other thing that has been amazing is the change in processing power. We went pentium 90 then 233 then 866 etc. The increase in power then was huge. Nowadays I doubt most people would notice much difference between a processer from the current gen and something 5-8 years old. Every year back then you could triple your processor power which was transformative. Now you can save power and get some marginal gains but I feel that it only really benefits those who game or have processor hungry requirements.

So my "favourite OS"? Not sure I'd ever call an OS a favourite as it's just an OS but I'd probably plump for Windows XP if I had to pick one.

I admire how you captured the PC revolution in the sequential time frame, I experienced kind of the same thing, from Amstrad to Amstrad PC clone. Those ghastly beige desktops.
Viglen, Mesh, Dan, blast from the past!

 

[Timbot]

I admire how you captured the PC revolution in the sequential time frame, I experienced kind of the same thing, from Amstrad to Amstrad PC clone. Those ghastly beige desktops.
Viglen, Mesh, Dan, blast from the past!

I'd forgotten about Mesh. Fortunately I avoided Time computers ("it's not a computer, it's a Time machine").

One of my friends had a Time Machine. It really was made of absolute cheese.

 

[Jasonovich]

I'd forgotten about Mesh. Fortunately I avoided Time computers ("it's not a computer, it's a Time machine").

One of my friends had a Time Machine. It really was made of absolute cheese.

Oh yeah, Time. I recall, telling a friend not to buy it but he went ahead.
AMD today is my number one choice but back in the day when Intel severed it's socket standard licence with AMD and started a new motherboard format for Intel processors only. AMD chipsets were really dicy. Totally different picture today with AMD in its ascendency. They have been innovating with their Threadrippers, Epic and Ryzen CPUs. Arrow lake looks promising and possibility of offering some parity with the competition.
AMD had the rug pulled under its feet when Intel decided to go alone.
Credit to AMD they began to make their own chipsets and they were cheap but not very reliable.
Time used AMD chipsets and cheap generic components.
So it wasn't surprising my friend experienced poor reliability.
After two years of ownership, I had to rebuild his PC.
The irony, I still used AMD chipsets but these were branded components that were of better quality.
It's also ironic, two days ago, both Lisa Su and Pat G met to discuss the possibility of unifying the X86 standard.
I think it's a case of my enemy enemies is my friend. I think they're both nervous of Nvidia adopting ARM for the CPU space.
I think X86 will be with us for a while longer and while Linux and Mac Os continues to eat the Windows pie, I don't think it will take anymore share of the pie from Windows.