# Operating system of choice?



## Steerpike (Dec 8, 2011)

What do other forum members use?

I just installed Crunchbang linux. 14 second boot time, which is nice. Same machine was booting Win 7 in between a minute and a minute and a half.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Dec 8, 2011)

Mac OSX because powerbooks are pretty. (I use Windows at work, but probably <7.)


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Dec 8, 2011)

Kubuntu 10.04. I typically upgrade every 2 years, to the latest stable LTR. (I tried regular Ubuntu at first but I hate what they've done to GNOME and Unity isn't really much better, for the level of control that I require.)


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## Steerpike (Dec 8, 2011)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> Kubuntu 10.04. I typically upgrade every 2 years, to the latest stable LTR. (I tried regular Ubuntu at first but I hate what they've done to GNOME and Unity isn't really much better, for the level of control that I require.)



I haven't used KDE in years (since before KDE 4 I think). How do you like it? With Crunchbang, I'm using Openbox.


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## Johnny Cosmo (Dec 8, 2011)

OSX Snow Leopard, but sometimes I run Windows 7 too.


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## Kelise (Dec 8, 2011)

Mac OSX Snow Leopard.

When laptop died a few years ago, I refused to get vista and thought it rude I had to buy a new laptop then stuff around 'down'grading it to XP. So I got a mac, and haven't looked back. 

I use Windows 7 at work. Dislike it, but that could be the sloooow Dell few-years-old computers it's on.


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## Steerpike (Dec 8, 2011)

Windows 7 is pretty solid, in my view (which Vista was not). It runs fast enough on my computer, but nothing like the linux openbox installation I have. I've never been a fan of Macs, but I know plenty of people who love them.


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## Larkin (Dec 8, 2011)

My 17-inch desktop replacement Sony VAIO runs Win 7 because it came installed with it, and I'm too lazy to kill it. My Asus EEE runs Ubuntu, because it only has 4 gigs of HD space.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Dec 8, 2011)

Snow Leopard? I guess I wasn't specific enough.

I got Lion. RAAH!


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## Johnny Cosmo (Dec 8, 2011)

> I got Lion.



I'd have upgraded, but some of the software I use has issues with it, so I'm sticking with Snow Leopard for now.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Dec 8, 2011)

Steerpike said:


> I haven't used KDE in years (since before KDE 4 I think). How do you like it? With Crunchbang, I'm using Openbox.



KDE 4 is fine, it's as customizable as I need it to be, which isn't terribly so. There's some dumb things about it (certain widgets that aren't as functional or flexible as I'd like). I'm well past the age of spending hours customizing my environment just so; on a fresh install, I spend ten minutes getting the basics set up, and then I'm good to go.


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## Shadoe (Dec 9, 2011)

I run... whatever happens to be on the machine I'm currently on. I've got laptops with Windows 7 Pro, Vista Ultimate, and XP Pro. I've got a netbook with some form of Linux on it. The iPad has.... version 5 of whatever those have. I've even got a desktop in SC with Windows 2000 on it. I think I stopped being tied to an operating system when I got out of IT.


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## Neurosis (Dec 14, 2011)

Unix shell ftw.

Also I regularly use Mac OS on my laptop, Ubuntu, Various red hat server distros, Windows 98 through to 8, Fedora at uni.

I find it hard to say one is "better". They are all well suited to a specific purpose. Problems only arise when people, or develops try to use/change the OS for something it wasn't design to support.


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## hectorchacon69 (Dec 14, 2011)

You may want to look into Ubuntu. It's honestly very user friendly. It's free and has great features. You might want to update your question with computer specifications. Depending on how powerful your computers are, you might just go with Windows 98. If they can handle something a little more intense then grab Ubuntu.


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## Steerpike (Dec 14, 2011)

Can't stand the Unity interface. It is clunky and doesn't look nice. But with Ubuntu you can install Gnome 3 shell with a single command in the terminal. That is more elegant and runs more smoothly.

Personally, I'm going to stick with Crunchbang and Openbox. It is fast and highly configurable to include what I want and not much else.


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## glanmartin62 (Dec 16, 2011)

I like windows 7.windows 7 much better then other operating system.windows 7 built by Microsoft.it's very fast and excellent figure.it's look very nice.


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## Telcontar (Dec 17, 2011)

Windows XP 64-bit on my main machine, and I have a (currently broked) linux box running an aging version of Red Hat. Might update the linux version to some other flavor when I get around to fixing it, and probably will make the switch to Windows 7 early next year.


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## Xanados (Dec 17, 2011)

Regular Windows 7 user. I'm not a simpleton, though: I use a high-powered gaming PC. =S
I respect the users of Linux and many obscure OS's.


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## Neurosis (Dec 17, 2011)

glanmartin62 said:


> I like windows 7.windows 7 much better then other operating system.windows 7 built by Microsoft.it's very fast and excellent figure.it's look very nice.



I present to you, for your viewing pleasure, the average Windows user. He who has never used any other OS, and tries to justify his own naivety by claiming Windows is the best.

Ironically the Windows OS is the worst for gaming. People assume its the best since most games are made to run on it natively (damn you DirectX). However it has a fairly broken memory management system (two level segmentation) which means transferring small specific blocks of memory to G-RAM is SLOW (which is all one ever needs to do). Also Windows has extremely poor support for massively parallel computing: which is a big downside to gaming. Take for example Skyrim, a game that just came out, it can only take advantage of 2 CPU cores on Windows. However a hacked version running on linux can use up to 8. Windows has a scheduler that simply does not like games. Finally theres the matter of dll hell.

I have a "high powered gaming rig" too, and I am forced to run Windows on it. I much prefer getting games that have a Linux port, since I know they will always run better, despite driver problems. Now that I think about it, I have more driver issues on Windows; but thats definitely AMD/ATIs fault.
[/rant]

Having said that, the Windows-NT environment is extremely good: FOR BUSINESS ORIENTED APPLICATIONS. Games have been added as an after-thought. The problem is that there is no good competition. There really needs to be an OS built for high performance gaming that really utilizes every screed of power a computer can produce.


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## Shadoe (Dec 18, 2011)

Neurosis said:


> I present to you, for your viewing pleasure, the average Windows user. He who has never used any other OS, and tries to justify his own naivety by claiming Windows is the best.


Really? You don't agree so you're name-calling? Where are the new people coming from where that sort of thing is acceptable?


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## Steerpike (Dec 18, 2011)

Shadoe said:


> Really? You don't agree so you're name-calling? Where are the new people coming from where that sort of thing is acceptable?



Maybe they learned from reading your comments in the Meyer v. Rice thread. Like, for example:



> Were the people who preferred Meyer illiterate preteens?



You're hardly one to talk when it comes to name-calling.


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## Steerpike (Dec 18, 2011)

Neurosis said:


> I present to you, for your viewing pleasure, the average Windows user. He who has never used any other OS, and tries to justify his own naivety by claiming Windows is the best.



Windows 7 is a decent enough OS. I don't see why you or anyone else should care if that is someone's favorite OS, or if linux is, or MacOS, or BSD, or whatever.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Dec 18, 2011)

Steerpike said:


> You're hardly one to talk when it comes to name-calling.



Really? Are we back in high school now? You guys both need to cut it out. If you have a beef, take it to PMs.


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## myrddin173 (Dec 18, 2011)

Let's not deride other people for their choice of operating system.  I feel we, as a community, are far to mature to do that.  



Oh and by the way, I use Windows 7 and I think it is a perfectly fine operating system.


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## Neurosis (Dec 18, 2011)

Shadoe said:


> Really? You don't agree so you're name-calling? Where are the new people coming from where that sort of thing is acceptable?





Neurosis said:


> Unix shell ftw.
> 
> Also I regularly use Mac OS on my laptop, Ubuntu, Various red hat server distros, Windows 98 through to 8, Fedora at uni.
> 
> I find it hard to say one is "better". They are all well suited to a specific purpose. Problems only arise when people, or develops try to use/change the OS for something it wasn't design to support.



And in my second post:


			
				Neurosis said:
			
		

> Having said that, the Windows-NT environment is extremely good: FOR BUSINESS ORIENTED APPLICATIONS. Games have been added as an after-thought. The problem is that there is no good competition...



I am currently writing this reply on a Windows 7 machine to boot. Also could you please point out where I called anyone a name? Or is "average Windows user" now an insult:


			
				Neurosis said:
			
		

> I present to you, for your viewing pleasure, the average Windows user. He who has never used any other OS, and tries to justify his own naivety by claiming Windows is the best.



Also the entire premise of this conflict is flawed. I never insulted anyone because I thought "their OS" wasn't the best. *I ranted because someone claimed that theirs was the best, and I see them as equal*:


> I like windows 7.*windows 7 much better then other operating system*.windows 7 built by Microsoft.it's very fast and excellent figure.it's look very nice.


Its a pet peeve of mine, people saying one OS is better than another. Hence my entire rant stressing this fact, and the previous post I made which explicitly state my views.

To avoid further baseless arguments and flame, please try and read my posts in full, or send me a PM if you still disagree.


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## Johnny Cosmo (Dec 19, 2011)

> _I present to you, for your viewing pleasure, the average Windows user. He who has never used any other OS, and tries to justify his own naivety by claiming Windows is the best._



I think it was more to do with the tone.


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## Steerpike (Dec 19, 2011)

I don't have anything against any OS. My order of preference is Linux, Win 7, MacOS (of the big three for desktops/laptops).

People use what they like best; nothing wrong with liking any of them best.


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## zizban (Dec 19, 2011)

I use Windows 7 at home and work. I write with OpenOffice. 

I used to be a huge Mac head but I had a life changing experience and went to Windows. Funny, Windows Vista was the first version of Windows I ever used. I used Irix on various SGI machines until Mac OS X came out and SGI eol'ed Irix.

My laptop runs Zevenos Linux.


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## fleamailman (Dec 25, 2011)

("...um, I use linux mint 9, which is basically a long term version..." mentioned the goblin)


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## sashamerideth (Dec 26, 2011)

I had a hackintosh, dropped it. It was fun playing in MacOS, but never got any real work done, guess I just spent too much time playing with it.  

I use mainly Linux at home, but I really like some of the Windows 7 UI things, jump lists and stuff. I even tried out Windows 8 tech preview, cool stuff but not something I would want to work in all the time.

I am a fan of XFCE, don't like what Unity has done, too many bad UI choices for me.

Sent from my Blade using Forum Runner


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## cliche (Dec 28, 2011)

I prefer windows xp to any of the other windows operating systems because it feels a lot more stable than vista and 7.
In my opinion this is what i think of the windows range: 
95/98 (and anything below)- alright, a bit clunky and sort of look like an eye sore but alright - outdated
xp- stable, secure with very little problems that needed to be sorted out (that were not through their own faults) outdated (depending on whether you use the latest and most up-to-date programs available)
vista - slow, clunky and full of errors. I'm not sure whether this was just the computer (which was something like 4gb ram, quad core, 200gb hard drive) but it took ages to load and do pretty much anything. It alsod doesnt look too bad either.
7 -  looks good, filled with bugs and problems that need to be sorted out. 
I'm currently using two laptops, one with xp installed and one with 7 installed. I have had the xp laptop for about four years now and I have not had a single problem with it. I have had the 7 laptop for about a year and so far I have had to reset the winsock and restore it back to factory settings *three* times so far, If I had a working xp disk i would honestly downgrade the windows 7 laptop to windows xp without even a second thought. It feels like microsoft are going backwards and the only thing they are try to improve is the cosmetics of operating system.
I cannot really comment on any of the other operating systems since I have yet to use any of them. I did in the past use macos and I remember that I liked it but that's about it.


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## Steerpike (Dec 29, 2011)

That's interesting, cliche. I've used Windows 7 heavily since the day it launched, both at home and at work. I've never had a single problem with it. Unlike Vista, which I agree was terrible.

I'm always fascinated by the varying experiences people have with operating systems that lead them to like or dislike them. I don't like Macs, personally. Never have since I had one years ago. But I have friends who love them. You've apparently had all kinds of issues with Win 7, whereas for me it has been an excellent OS. 

I still like various flavors of linux the best, and yet others for whom I have installed linux were not happy with it.

Much of it ends up being subjective.


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## OrionDarkwood (Dec 29, 2011)

I know I will probably get roasted but I use Win7. However I am looking into Linux flavors to install and dual boot on a old XP machine that I am using for old console game emulator and music box (eventually). I still want to use the XP cause of some old games that don't play nicely on Win7 (Temple of Elemental Evil comes to mind)


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## Bruce McKnight (Sep 22, 2013)

I have windows 7 and it has never given me a problem. It boots plenty fast off an SSD.


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## GeekDavid (Sep 23, 2013)

In my experience, Windows 7 has been more stable than Vista. I'd go Linux, but there are just too many programs that I like to run under Windows.


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## yachtcaptcolby (Sep 23, 2013)

I usually use a MacBook Pro at home. I have to deal with Windows all day at work and I don't really want to have to put up with it at home. All the crap in Windows that wants my attention all the time drives me nuts. I bought a refurbished PC laptop I keep around for gaming and situations where I need a PC, but I use the Mac 95% of the time. It just works, and I don't need a system I can customize heavily.

I've also got an Acer netbook running Ubuntu Linux. It's perfect for traveling with and Ubuntu runs great on that less powerful hardware. I bought it thinking it would be a good beater for trips to the coffee shop and such that would save wear and tear on my more expensive MacBook. That was six years ago and it's still in great shape.


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## Steerpike (Sep 23, 2013)

Windows 8 is just as stable as Win 7, if not more so, and it runs better. So if you're going to use Windows you might as well use it. 

Unless you're doing a lot of gaming (which I do on my Windows computer), there isn't a lot that you can't do just as well in Linux.


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## SeverinR (Sep 23, 2013)

I only used Linux a short period on a dumb terminal laptop (no hard drive) Linux ran in CD/DVD.
It ran well, did web surfing without much delay.

Windows 7 or 8 always seems slow.  I had a Windows XP, it did well to start but then slowed after some time.

Personally, for web surfing, I'd be happy with Linux in the media drive rather then on the HD. When your done nothing is left to bog down the computer. If you want to save then You'd need to make it an OS.


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## Steerpike (Sep 23, 2013)

Some versions of Linux you can boot from USB instead of a LiveCD, and then you can save your changes. If you run a light-weight distro like Peppermint, or even Elementary OS, which is a nice one, you're not going to have much trouble, even when running from HDD.


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## GeekDavid (Sep 23, 2013)

Steerpike said:


> Windows 8 is just as stable as Win 7, if not more so, and it runs better. So if you're going to use Windows you might as well use it.
> 
> Unless you're doing a lot of gaming (which I do on my Windows computer), there isn't a lot that you can't do just as well in Linux.



This thing came with Win7, and I see no reason to upgrade.

And yes, now that you mention it, I do a lot of gaming.


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## Steerpike (Sep 23, 2013)

GeekDavid said:


> This thing came with Win7, and I see no reason to upgrade.
> 
> And yes, now that you mention it, I do a lot of gaming.



Yeah, at the current upgrade price I don't think it is worth it. At the beginning of the year, when the upgrade was really cheap, I think the performance improvement made it worth doing. But for $119 you might as well stick with Win 7 until you get a new computer down the road.


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## Rinzei (Sep 23, 2013)

I'm using Windows 7 on an SSD - running well for me. I also have Ubuntu running on an older laptop that used to have XP, to give it a try.

Personally, most of it is just familiarity and knowledge - I know more about Windows, so I'm more comfortable navigating and troubleshooting it when I need to.

I've played around with Windows 8 for work stuff. I DO like it, but only on touch-screens. The controls are designed for touch, so they're not very intuitive through mouse/keyboard.


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## GeekDavid (Sep 23, 2013)

Steerpike said:


> Yeah, at the current upgrade price I don't think it is worth it. At the beginning of the year, when the upgrade was really cheap, I think the performance improvement made it worth doing. But for $119 you might as well stick with Win 7 until you get a new computer down the road.



I am seriously looking at the Microsoft Surface for a more mobile computing solution than my current laptop... but that'll have to wait till I either get another day job or make enough off _Librarian_ to afford to make writing my day job.


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