Which OS do you use, and why do you prefer it over others?

[Morgan La Faye]

Which OS do you use? Currently Windows 7
How long have you been using it? windows all my life.
Have you tried more than one? mac during college, and linux for a year during hp dv9000 gpu issues.
Why do you prefer one over the other? actually prefer linux, but couldn't run any of the windows programs I like. will never again use mac.

[MachineMuse]

Windows 7
Eye candy, love 'aero snap' and runs games

Would use linux (mint or ubuntu, haven't settled on a favourite yet) exclusively if the ATI drivers were better and guild wars 2 would run as smoothly as it does on windows. I hope steam on linux will entice ATI to step up their game to nvidia's standards. Should never have deviated from my graphics card manufacturer of choice. Need my compiz fix.

Used mac OS 6 to 9 on my parents' computers from age 6 to 13? Finally bought my own computer (Windows XP) at age 14 or so.

Gentoo was great for forcing me to learn the mechanics of a linux system but compiling from source every time gets tedious with an aging machine, and using binaries defeats the purpose.

Had to use a modern mac for one of my labs last year (age 24) and it was physically painful because I couldn't install any of the 3rd party hacks to expose the mouse acceleration curve and my arm got cramps by the end of a 1-hour tutorial. Luckily I was learning to use Vim at the time so I needed the mouse less and less as the semester went on. But still

The xkcd comic about BSD scared me away from it (just kidding, something similar happened to me)

Might try Solaris in the future; one of my university's labs has a dual monitor setup where every machine has solaris on one and slackware on the other. one of them is a VM presumably.

Think that about covers it.

[ryanwyan]

Over the years, I've been using a lot of different Operating Systems. This is a pretty hard question to answer, your Operating system is not really something you can tell people to use. You could just suggest something for them to try, and if they don't like it, then they don't like it. It can take a long time to find one, I personally like Arch Linux the best, because you can make it look and way under the sun! But, it does require a lot of experience, I would recommend something like Linux Mint or Ubuntu to somebody who doesn't know much about Linux.

Linux Mint

Here's the link to Linux Mint
And a screenshot

Ubuntu

Here's the link to Ubuntu

And here's a screenshot of Ubuntu.

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Just so you're aware, the dock in the picture of Ubuntu, is NOT there defaultly, it is a program for a dock called Docky. For more information on Docky, please click here.

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If you have any other questions, please feel free to message me about it!

Thanks!

-Ryan

[ZodiacMouse]

i was using slackware linux as my primary OS for years...... but now i use ubuntu... in truth not call ubnuntu a linux you use for a beginner suggesting other linux is somehow better, honestly
linux is linux and one thing is cool about its the software WORKS like i use kdenlive and all the plugins work in audacity. (What a breath of fresh air)

using slackware as my priamry OS for years taught me patenience ... ubuntu is a solid linux for any level of skill,

[bgibbs1]

My favorite operating system is Ubuntu, but other than that I love Android, Haiku and Windows NT.

As far as server operating systems go, my favorite Linux distribution is Debian, with Linux Mint and Ubuntu close behind.

[Nes Cartridge]

Which OS do you use? Windows 7, Ubuntu 12.04 (back up/quick boot/browsing)
How long have you been using it?A while emotion_dowant
Have you tried more than one? emotion_awesome well
Why do you prefer one over the other?
As of 11/14/12 Windows 7 seems to be the most well rounded OS for my needs but I just wanted to post here to say:

There is no "Best":
A techie that likes optimization, low virus rate and full control of his os would probably like a Linux flavor.
Gentoo emotion_donotwant
An artist/business owner would probably like the simplicity of apple, perhaps someone who is intelligent in other ways.
Mac OS emotion_kirakira
We all know the gamers favorite.
emotion_dowant

[Touching Hair]

Which OS do you use?
I'm currently using Windows Vista

How long have you been using it?
I have been using it since it's release so...a few years now.

Have you tried more than one?
Yes. I also use Linux Mint Cinnamon, BSD and a variety of Windows Server operating systems.

Why do you prefer one over the other?
I prefer Vista simply because I have set it up exactly the way I like it. I will upgrade to 7, eventually.

[SilentKnight1337]

I'm a Linux guy. I grew up on Windows XP and Windows 85. I found 7 to be nice, but too user friendly. Linux is my OS because it's just better in general. And I have four seperate desktops. Win.

[User_4103036]

Windows 7. Not switching to 8 unless they fix that dumb layout and navigation. It was clearly meant for iPad and s**t, not real computers.

[Domigato]

Which OS do you use? Fedora
How long have you been using it? 2 Years
Have you tried more than one? Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows (of course)
Why do you prefer one over the other? Fedora gives me everything I need.

[AkaMysteriousGuy]

Using Windows from Birth. Love It. Currently using win 8 but win 7 was better than win 8 (I think)

[Usaki Tsukino]

Which OS do you use? Linux, currently XUbuntu, I switched from the normal Ubuntu recently, which I usually only do each every other year or so.

How long have you been using it? When Vista was released, no more Windos for me ¬_¬

Have you tried more than one? Knoppix, Slax, Suse, then Ubuntu..., never owned a Mac.

Why do you prefer one over the other? Easy to install (open source <3) and configure (If you know Google-Fu) and customize (no installed bloat) malware is also a non-issue as long as you know what you are doing. Sometime its trouble with obscure hardware that requires abit of tweaking to get functional, such as some 3G-modems and printers, but except from that it "just working" ^_^

[ZodiacMouse]

currently my primary OS is Slackware 14, aslo have it 'dual booted' where i got windows 7, and ubuntu on another drive, 99% time i am using slackware xp yum_shrimp

[airyie]

Ubuntu FTW. If you put Cinnamon/Mint or Gnome shell over it, it is basically like unity doesn't exist.

You can code in this baby.
Sudo apt-get stuff
read all my harddrives even if they're not formatted one way or another.
SSH with all remote machines.
Set my network settings. Like REALLY set them.
And Freeware galore.

Can't go back to mac after using ubuntu.

[TailsSena]

Well, currently using the Windows 8 CP, works pretty well in my opinion, but I'm sure some people would disagree.

Have I tried anything else... Well, I've messed with Grandma's Mac, and if there's one thing I hated about it, it was that Finder work absolutely nothing like Windows Explorer... And that .EXEs don't work... Mac just seems too boxed in for me.