What operation system do you use?

[Taliesin]

I got curious - which operation system do you use?

Something produced by the dreaded yet popular corporation Microsoft? Do you prefer the most popular freeware option and react to sudo use Linux? Or are you influenced by the Steve Job reality distortion field and feel that Mac operation systems are the best/ most suitable for you? Or do you use something that most decent people haven't even heard of, like FreeBSD, Amiga or Solaris, for example?
Or are you so fancy that you dual-boot, or even tri-boot things?(or just have a number of computers)

Personally, I used to use Windows XP, but then I bought myself a MacBook - which means I now use Mac OS X, which is quite handy and has a nice feel, more secure and gives me a sense of superiority since I don't use Windows any more.

[Pensive]

For as long as I remember, I have been using Windows XP. Without any sense of inferiority. :p

[sprinks]

Windows XP.

[MattG]

For the most part Vista (64 bit)

I do have a computer with virtual machines running Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I also have a little web server at work running on XP+IIS.

[Virgil]

Using Windows XP from almost when it came out. Is Vista worth the switch?

[MattG]

Depends on you, really Virgil.

XP is very stable and I'd have to say that it's my favorite Microsoft OS to date. I've switched to Vista because I needed to replace an old Pentium3 PC and the newer ones all have Vista on them. If I could have replaced the PC with XP I'd have done that. But, ya gotta 'progress' sometime right?

All that said, Vista is nice. It's a little quirky with memory management and I've crashed my new 4gb RAM Vista machine using an application that my old XP machine sailed through daily. It's not a regular occurrence and some of the new features are nice.

Up to you really, certainly wouldn't be a necessary switch for quite some time.

[1n50mn14]

I hate Vista, but with the computer I was getting (and I'm not exactly technology savvy, so I couldn't change it) it was the only available operations system. Soo... cheap computer, cheap operating system. I prefer Linux or Mac.

[MattG]

Well, being a denizen of the corporate world I can certainly appreciate what Microsoft was trying to do with Vista and their Office suite.

I like that I can take a spreadsheet from someone, rather effortlessly pull it into an Access database, link it up with other data from other users and build custom reporting without having to have a server.

There's tons of things I like about it and quite a few I dislike but I wouldn't call it 'cheap'. Just my opinion.

[Virgil]

Depends on you, really Virgil.

XP is very stable and I'd have to say that it's my favorite Microsoft OS to date. I've switched to Vista because I needed to replace an old Pentium3 PC and the newer ones all have Vista on them. If I could have replaced the PC with XP I'd have done that. But, ya gotta 'progress' sometime right?

All that said, Vista is nice. It's a little quirky with memory management and I've crashed my new 4gb RAM Vista machine using an application that my old XP machine sailed through daily. It's not a regular occurrence and some of the new features are nice.

Up to you really, certainly wouldn't be a necessary switch for quite some time.

Thanks Matt. My wife has Vista and she seems to like it.

[Madhuri]

Windows Vista.

[BlueSkyGB]

4 machines at home
XP for 1 desktop and laptop
2000 Pro for another desktop
and an old machine with Windows 98...for an old game...:lol:
fiddled around with nostalgia last month...rebuilt one and played around with DOS....ahh the memories....of course not all that good...:D

at work....all are XP....

[kratsayra]

I use Vista just cause that was on the computer I got. But I'm pretty sure that the next time I need a new computer, I'm going to buy a Mac. I really like the way that everything is streamlined on a Mac . . . I'm not a computer person so I can't really explain it that well. I mean, all the programs and things are Mac programs and they all work well with each other and match. That sounds really silly, but my boyfriend has a Mac and I'm usually jealous of his computer when I get frustrated with mine. I tried having a Mac maybe 8 years ago, and I didn't like it, but I think I would like it now.

The biggest problem I have with my Vista computer is that all the space is taken up on it and I can't figure out why. I finally had to just use an external hard drive to store my 8 GB of music and photos just to free up a bit of space. Really, I have tried and tried and I have no idea what is taking up all that space.

[kandaurov]

XP here.

This turned out to be a very interesting poll indeed. I had thought Mac would dominate the poll. I'm pretty sure it would be so if this were a forum for the visual arts, never seen a photographer not using Mac. Foolishly I extended the stereotype to the literature folks. Hm.

[*Classic*Charm*]

MAC WHOOO!!

I'll never go back to a PC and windows...

[ClaesGefvenberg]

I use XP with sp3, and I have to say that it works like a charm these days, so I am not planning to upgrade anytime soon. This was not the case when XP hit the shops though: I upgraded from win 98 to XP but very soon I soon blew my top, chucked it out and went back to Win 98... The reason? XP was not ready for the market and I decided that someone else could play Guinea Pig for Mickeysoft: I needed a working computer, and XP had all sorts of teething problems. Above all it worked fine on some hardware and abysmally on other. My hardware happened to be in the latter category, so out it went. About a year later I tried it again, and from then on it has been running better and better.


Using Windows XP from almost when it came out. Is Vista worth the switch?Not if XP is running well an performing the way you want it to: When I upgrade from XP I want it to be an upgrade rather than a mere replacement which is how I see Vista. Yes, it looks a bit nicer and has a some new gadgets, but I am rather uninterested in how the operative system looks. I want it to sit nice and quiet in the background, running the applications I happen to chose.

A bit of computer trivia:

I started my home computer journey in 1980 or thereabouts with a SinclairZX80 with 1Kb of RAM and no choice in what operative system you were to use: You got what was hard wired into the thing, and that was it :lol: ). Oh, and I had to save my home brewed BASIC applications on a tape cassette recorder!

Then came a Sinclair Spectrum: Also a hard wired operative, but with a socking great 48 Kb of Ram. Wow ;)

It was followed by an Atari 520 ST with 512Kb of Ram which I abused heavily by cramming another 2Mb into (bringing it up to 2,5MB, which was not supposed to be possible. :lol: ). I also experimented with some alternative operative systems, but the original was pretty good.

After that came my first PC: A 486 running Windows 3.1 on 16Mb of RAM, I soon kicked Win 3.1 out in favour of Win 95. The computer received more RAM, pushing it up to its max capacity of 48 MB, and a very rare processor: A 586 (ever heard about that one? it's a rare bird, which got renamed Pentium due to copyright reasons before it made a dent in the market).

I am now running my fourth PC, with XP and 4Gb of RAM. XP is very stable now. So why on earth did I provide all this nerdy info? To make a point, of course: Win 7 beta is out and about now, intended to replace.... Vista. Does anyone care to guess whether I'm going to install it now or wait a year or two?

/Claes

[djy78usa]

I use Vista on my notebook. It's alright, but some of the new features take some getting used to. I miss Solaris, which I used at my old job. We had the Open Office suite, so I could still read and edit files from Windows users.

[Janine]

Vista because it came with my new computer. Bacially, I am about 80% used to the change. I think it all depends on how much you do or expect from your computer. I like the graphics and the look, certain improved features for creating files, etc, but there are some things others would probably find quite frustrating in switching form XP to Vista; I know I have. If you don't like 'plug and play' features, in which the computer operating system automatically seeks out the software on the internet and installs the programs, to support your devices, you might hate this system. Most guys I know seem to hate it, because they like to have total control over what programs they download, not that they can't be altered or changed later on; but this does cause more confusion. I know I have had my own qualms about some of the features; for instance, I still do not have my printer/scanner operating correctly; the printer software is installed (no problem) but they left out the scanner software; see what I mean? So you end up with part of the program. Luckily I still have the original program disk; need to disconnect the unit, install the correct software, and then see if the scanner, when reconnected, will function correctly. This could be easy or it could end up being more problematic than I am anticipating. I have also had some problems with various programs such as the iTunes program and my Creative Stone MP3 player programs; both seemed to work more efficiently with XP. I have no idea why. It could be the version of iTunes I downloaded and not Vista at all. The MP3 player program was always a bit slow and quirky, just worse so using Vista. Some of the pitfalls might just be from my own ineptitude. I admit I know something about computers but I fall very short of knowing all of the technical aspects of this PC.

So in the final analysis, I guess I would have to conclude that the jury is still out on the verdict.