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.

 

[Rodolfo]

My first was the advanced luggable Kaypro 10 which ran on CP/M. Twas was my Xmas 1983 gift to myself.

At work --the university, we still only had access to impersonal "terminals", though our office manager did have a huge Xerox "PC" in her office -one of the first screen-based word processors. Secretaries still had IBM Selectrics.

 

[DCarmi]

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.

On the Desktop, possibly not. However, more and more people are not using PCs for day to day computing needs. These are being done on phone etc. I for one rarely hit the PC for non-work stuff. Emails, news, browsing is done on phone or tablet. I rarely use YouTube on PC and never music or radio.

For server-based stuff, Microsoft Azure CTO, stated than Linux passed Windows usage in 2018 and now is the dominant OS on that cloud platform. If this is the case for a Microsoft owned cloud service, you can pretty much guarantee that the other services, such as AWS and Google are even more skewed towards Linux.

Windows is no longer the revenue stream for Microsoft, that it was and has been declining for years. Microsoft has diversified its software to work across multiple platforms, so these days it is pretty much platform agnostic.

At work, I am using a Windows laptop and a Microsoft development software but the code I am writing is run by Linux servers, talking to other Linux servers.

 

[Jasonovich]

On the Desktop, possibly not. However, more and more people are not using PCs for day to day computing needs. These are being done on phone etc. I for one rarely hit the PC for non-work stuff. Emails, news, browsing is done on phone or tablet. I rarely use YouTube on PC and never music or radio.

For server-based stuff, Microsoft Azure CTO, stated than Linux passed Windows usage in 2018 and now is the dominant OS on that cloud platform. If this is the case for a Microsoft owned cloud service, you can pretty much guarantee that the other services, such as AWS and Google are even more skewed towards Linux.

Windows is no longer the revenue stream for Microsoft, that it was and has been declining for years. Microsoft has diversified its software to work across multiple platforms, so these days it is pretty much platform agnostic.

At work, I am using a Windows laptop and a Microsoft development software but the code I am writing is run by Linux servers, talking to other Linux servers.

It use to be UNIX for the mainframe but Linux is everywhere, sorry I was alluding to the home scene where Windows still hold the dominant position.
I would love to see Ubuntu or one of the other Linux fruity flavours knock Windows off from it's perch, because rivalry is good, it makes it conducive to competition, that's what we want at the end of the day, better quality products for the consumer.

Look at Bulldozer, what a disaster it was for AMD, nobody was buying their processors. Who would have thought, they would come back from the dead, thanks to Jim Keller's love child, the Ryzen ( well, some would argue, he only had a small part in the design). Now the shoe is on the other foot for Intel. Competition is good.

 

[abacus]

It use to be UNIX for the mainframe but Linux is everywhere, sorry I was alluding to the home scene where Windows still hold the dominant position.
I would love to see Ubuntu or one of the other Linux fruity flavours knock Windows off from it's perch, because rivalry is good, it makes it conducive to competition, that's what we want at the end of the day, better quality products for the consumer.

Look at Bulldozer, what a disaster it was for AMD, nobody was buying their processors. Who would have thought, they would come back from the dead, thanks to Jim Keller's love child, the Ryzen ( well, some would argue, he only had a small part in the design). Now the shoe is on the other foot for Intel. Competition is good.

Thing is for Linux to become mainstream in the home, it has to be easy to use. (And with so many distros it is not even close)
Software/Hardware developers also have to support it, (And make money from the software) and there is little chance of that happening any time soon. (Most Linux owners also expect everything to be free)
When Linux owners say this is the year of Linux (Which they do frequently) or say you can do everything you want on Linux, (You can't) you realise just how out of touch most Linux users are with the real world.
BTW. whether you have Linux, Mac or Windows, they all have their positives and negatives, (Anyone that says otherwise is just deluding themselves) so just use whichever suits your needs.

Bill

 

[DCarmi]

sorry I was alluding to the home scene where Windows still hold the dominant position.

I get that but I am alluding to the fact the the PC is not as pervasive as it used to be and not necessarily the dominant force in the home scene. Hence the reliance of Windows for home use declines as people switch to other devices and those devices become more competent.

This includes Android and iOS eating into what was Windows traditional home usage.

If you switched the original topic around from "favourite" OS to "favoured" OS, i.e. the one they actually use for preference, you'd get a very different answer.

I'd bet a fair proportion of people would prefer to have a shiny new £1000 iPhone or similar before the spend money replacing their old PC. Even better, ask them to choose which device to lock away in a cupboard!

 

[Jasonovich]

Thing is for Linux to become mainstream in the home, it has to be easy to use. (And with so many distros it is not even close)
Software/Hardware developers also have to support it, (And make money from the software) and there is little chance of that happening any time soon. (Most Linux owners also expect everything to be free)
When Linux owners say this is the year of Linux (Which they do frequently) or say you can do everything you want on Linux, (You can't) you realise just how out of touch most Linux users are with the real world.
BTW. whether you have Linux, Mac or Windows, they all have their positives and negatives, (Anyone that says otherwise is just deluding themselves) so just use whichever suits your needs.

Bill

I did try Linux for a few months, both KDE and Gnome formats as well as other Debian based offerings because I wasn't prepared to pay for the insane cost for the Windows operating system but later discovered, you can buy legitimate Windows product key code for £20-£30 and I was back to being chilled.

Oh for sure there are pros and cons for every operating system. I started to miss Windows because Linux has always been 'Work in Progress'. Perhaps that's the nature of open-sourced systems, too many cooks in the kitchen.

At least with Window's your gaming GPU isn't going to freeze up as much or experience codec issues as you would on your Linux OS. In fairness the same could be said for Windows but at least, you have the manufacturers driver support for the latter. Support for Linux tends to be piecemeal.

 

[Rodolfo]

A couple of sources where you can look it up yourself, any way you want to cut it, or at least a bunch of ways:

Operating System Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats

This graph shows the market share of operating systems worldwide based on over 5 billion monthly page views.

gs.statcounter.com

Market share of personal computer vendors - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

My summary read of my seriously non-expert review:

Windows still seriously dominates and has trended in the business and desktop sectors.

Android is the main other-than-Windows OS, particularly because of its serious dominance and trending in the mobile sector/on mobile platforms, worldwide, and mobile computing has indeed been and is the growth sector this century.

Within the mobile sector, iOS is the main other-than-Android OS, though it is stronger-than mostly only in the US --and even here, it is not as dominant as Android is elsewhere.