What is your operating system of choice?

Post Reply New Topic

Windows xp =D

Might try a mac in the future.

Ubuntu Linux. I had Vista but it I ended up reformatting the hard drive and installing ubuntu - much faster on the same machine. Vista is worse than XP for speed and stability; I loathed redhat linux when I used it. In some ways, DOS was the best OS: stable, fast and easier to use than redhat linux.

Loves: SuSE Linux then Windows Server 2003 Ent. then Windows XP SP1 SP2.
Is ok:Windows Server 2008 Ent.
Hates:Vista & Vista SP1

Yeah, it is fast and more or less stable, but I have kinda grown used to the idea that the operation system ans not every application provides device drivers.

Ah... but take it one further...

I've grown accustomed to the idea that the operating system doesn't provide device drivers. They are just slightly specialised bits of code that the OS manages. They are certainly no business of an application!

Actually, I've never much liked the vagueness of the term "operating system". Once you go up above the kernel, it becomes unclear exactly what you include in the definition and what you don't.

I think that the kernel, the GUI, and any other code/programs needed should be considered the OS. Where as programs that come with such as notepad should be named distro programs.

I've noticed that ever since Windows Vista came out everyone is praising Windows XP. I think that this must be because in contrast to Windows Vista, XP is so much better. When XP was the latest Microsoft OS people put it down quite a bit. Just not quite as much as people are putting down Vista....

I use Kubuntu for music-making. Okay, no professional DAWs or anything but JACK, Ardour and ffADO do the trick for me. Ardour is actually a very good DAW now, I've really been enjoying using it. If you're doing anything professional, linux is no-go but for amateurs like me, it's a lot better than shelling out megabucks for a mac.

Currently I have Ubuntu 8.10 (for games) and gNewSense 2.1 for more ethical reasons.

Depends - For the most cases I prefer Debian; but the X-Server configuration sucks. Fine-tuning the /etc/X11/xorg.conf is a mess, so recycle since ages for my the main-box here an old configuration-file, configured with sax form Suse (thus the most parts of the computer are quite new, but the graphic card is the same since seven years).

A other problem with debian is the old version of open office, so I de-installed the debian-version (2.4.x) and replaced it with the newer version. Similar is to say in respect of Gimp, so I needed to de-install sane and xsane, installed it from the sources and than reinstalled Gimp (2.6.4) also from the sources.

Debian does currently not include KDE4, but after playing around with KDE4 on SuSE 11.1, I really do not miss it at all.

OS of choice: do I need to pick just one? I triple-boot OS X Leopard, Ubuntu 8.10, and Vista Ultimate. I also Virtualbox XP. Of these, my ratings would be: Ubuntu>XP≥Leopard>Vista. Right now I'm in Vista. It's not always quite as horrible as its reputation, but the performance really needs to be improved by a lot, which I've heard will be coming in Windows 7. I'll admit I like the Aero theme, but to me, having everything work quickly is more important than having a pretty task bar.

Vista wouldn't even pass here the test-phase: I install all OS first on a test-computer, an seven year old Dell-Inpirion 2650 with 256MB. Something I can't install on this box, will not enter the production computers.

A wise approach.

I find it quite unacceptable, that an OS can "require" vast amounts of RAM, just to get off the ground.

I want my memory to be used by the application(s) I am actively using... not by some pointlessly complexificated, non-operating, unsystematic sluggishware that does me no favours.

I do not know, what MS does with this vast amounts of HEAP. At the end Windows does not provide more than the Kernel, X-server, KDE/Gnome, some demons for printer, NFS, sshd, etc, a of Linux-System. It is for my just a miracle ...

10 years ago, 256MB of RAM was quite a bit, top-of-the-line. 15 or 20 years ago that much would have been almost unheard of. Even Linux does not run well any more on computers that were fine on Windows 3.1. Wirth's Law in action. Newer software makes more demands on system resources. Vista does so excessively, though.

Every OS has it's place (and time).

I'm a big fan of open source and the Linux community - but I have to go with Bill's evil empire on this issue. . .

Microsoft Windows! It pays the bills.