I you had a brand new laptop/PC

[Howardh]

...and you had a choice of operating system, assuming they were all supported; which would you choose, and why?
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I've chosen XP but 7 would be fine. Just such a simple, uncluttered system and easy to see what's in your files and folders eg. pictures. Also much of the software developed at that time won't run on 7 or 10.

Against 10 is those horrid tiles, and the difficulty of navigating around, setting it up as you like. and the confusing interface when dealing with files. For 10 is it does seem faster, and the apps are useful such as Cricinfo where you can, eventually, get a full screen scoreboard!

 

[J-2739]

Windows 10: The most cleanest OS I've ever used. Combined the best features of Windows 7 with Windows 8.

 

[DaleCooper]

I've got Ubuntu on my desktop and laptop, apart from being a bit flaky and not quite as easy to use in some respects as Windows it is fine for everyday browsing. I still keep a Windows 7 PC for some old software I use occasionally. I was put off Windows by their overly aggressive promotion of Windows 10 and haven't regretted the move to Ubuntu. Among the advantages are updates are quicker and don't swallow all the system resources and the machine shuts down much quicker - I don't believe in leaving things on standby when I'm out of the house.
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I've chosen XP

I agree with that, XP was my favourite version of Windows.

 

[Howardh]

Windows 10: The most cleanest OS I've ever used. Combined the best features of Windows 7 with Windows 8.

What do you mean by "cleanest"? Is it the best at preventing malware, viruses etc? Does it not require anti-virus? If so that's a big plus!

 

[J-2739]

What do you mean by "cleanest"? Is it the best at preventing malware, viruses etc? Does it not require anti-virus? If so that's a big plus!

Ah, sorry! Just a phrase I use for 'simple' and 'uncluttered'!

 

[Howardh]

Ah, sorry! Just a phrase I use for 'simple' and 'uncluttered'!

Oh right! You'd built my hopes up there, naughty boy!!! An hour on a Pacer as a punishment for you...!!

 

[J-2739]

Oh right! You'd built my hopes up there, naughty boy!!! An hour on a Pacer as a punishment for you...!!

You know there's a 'get out of jail card'? Well, sometimes, I wish in these instances, there was a 'get out of pacer card' instead!!

 

[GusB]

I have chosen Linux, but I wouldn't necessarily go for Ubuntu - Linux Mint was my favourite distribution for a while, then I settled on Peppermint, which is very lightweight. For anything that needs Windows, I'd run it in VirtualBox.

If my budget was totally unlimited I might even go for a high-spec Mac. I have a Mac Mini which my last contract required me to have, but it's the lowest spec and not the fastest machine in the world. Is there any reason for not including MacOS in the poll?

To be honest, most of my daily use is web-based, and my current Chromebook handles it quite well. The only thing use my PC (Windows 10) for these days is gaming.

 

[DasLunatic]

You know there's a 'get out of jail card'? Well, sometimes, I wish in these instances, there was a 'get out of pacer card' instead!!

There is - it's called "pulling the emergency stop cord and forcing the doors open" :P

 

[Howardh]

There is - it's called "pulling the emergency stop cord and forcing the doors open" :P

Force a pacer's doors open? There are plenty of gaps to squeeze through as it is!

Note on Linux, I think ubuntu is the most-used OS? Anyone know??

 

[me123]

Interesting that you haven't included Macs (I know you've specified PCs, but you've also said laptop which certainly brings Macs into the equation). To that end, I've picked "any other" - meaning a MacOS. I've been using Macs for many years now and I have no inclination to go back to Windows. Certainly Windows has significantly improved since my last machine, but I'm very comfortable working on a Mac.

 

[Howardh]

Interesting that you haven't included Macs (I know you've specified PCs, but you've also said laptop which certainly brings Macs into the equation). To that end, I've picked "any other" - meaning a MacOS. I've been using Macs for many years now and I have no inclination to go back to Windows. Certainly Windows has significantly improved since my last machine, but I'm very comfortable working on a Mac.

Yup, that was what the "any other" box was for, otherwise the list would be much longer.

 

[backontrack]

Windows 1.0.

 

[SS4]

Arch Linux, I love the DIY philosophy and the desktop is whatever you make of it.

Linux also has the advantage of privacy and the fact it's mine to do whatever I want with it

 

[Howardh]

Windows 1.0.

It's in colour,what more do you want...??!! My old mum was a teacher in the 80's and had BBC with Commodore (I think - help!!) something-or-other and he stuff she did came out in monochrome. Even the games eg chess, which took two cassettes to load via a cassette player, and had to be done every time I played. Of course it was all wonderful at the time; but I went to computer programming classes and got nowhere, just wasn't up my street.

 

[J-2739]

It's in colour,what more do you want...??!! My old mum was a teacher in the 80's and had BBC with Commodore (I think - help!!) something-or-other and he stuff she did came out in monochrome. Even the games eg chess, which took two cassettes to load via a cassette player, and had to be done every time I played. Of course it was all wonderful at the time; but I went to computer programming classes and got nowhere, just wasn't up my street.

I sometimes wish that I grew up in the 80s to experience that!

BBCs may had been monochrome, but they were very tough!

There is - it's called "pulling the emergency stop cord and forcing the doors open" :P

Nah, that would probably break the Pacer into pieces!!

Windows 1.0.

My eyes died for a bit when seeing that!

Ah well, anything better than Windows Vista!

 

[CC 72100]

I do like Windows 7 - my work laptop uses 7 and so did my personal PC until it was killed by a power surge earlier this last year.

I was very sceptical about windows 10, much preferring the old start menu etc. and actually I've found its no big deal. There is a more a less a start menu there on the conventional lay out - if you want tiles and apps then you can knock yourself out, but thankfully you can make almost-traditional too.

My only issue is the folder arrangement for document/music/oictures storage. During my first couple of months, I kept 'losing' files - they were being saved under OneDrive. Later I disabled OneDrive but the problem persisted - I'm used to going 'My computer > documents' but any new content that I was creating was automatically saving in 'C drive > users > CC 72100 > Documents'.

I've now got a sticker on my monitor reminding me to check where I am saving things!

 

[GMT]

XP, no doubt. Having said that, I've never tried Linux. But by now I've got used to Windows 10.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I sometimes wish that I grew up in the 80s to experience that!

As someone who did, it was an exciting time in IT when doing anything with relatively limited hardware was a real challenge.

The ZX Spectrum, CBM64, Amstrad CPC etc started off a generation of the IT industry.

But I think the most exciting time to be a young adult was around 1998, when the Freeserve Revolution kicked off at the same time as Vodafone introduced the PAYG mobile, and with it started a societal change brought about by the Internet and permanent connectivity...
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XP, no doubt. Having said that, I've never tried Linux. But by now I've got used to Windows 10.

Linux is a techie's OS. The only UNIX OS that I have ever considered "ready for the desktop" is MacOS, and that's a curious combination of a modern UNIX back-end and the replication of an early-1990s GUI with some fancy bits.

 

[chris89]

Win 10 myself, since fully going over to it on my desktop system Jan last year and laptop soon after it was released.

Never liked XP much myself, used 2000 over that.

Only OS use close to Linux which is 'based' from it is Android.

 

[SS4]

Linux is a techie's OS. The only UNIX OS that I have ever considered "ready for the desktop" is MacOS, and that's a curious combination of a modern UNIX back-end and the replication of an early-1990s GUI with some fancy bits.

Not really, it used to be but with the rise of ubuntu and mint it's basically ready to go from the off. Installation can be a bit technical with the options but then I imagine Windows would also be the same if it weren't pre-installed on most machines.

MacOS is a gilded cage: it looks lovely and works well as long as you don't do anything that Apple don't want you to do

 

[DaleCooper]

Linux is a techie's OS.

I'm no techie but I use Ubuntu with no problems. I use it mainly for browsing plus the odd spreadsheet, text document and photos which is probably all that a lot of people need.

 

[CarlSilva]

XP, which i do still use as is the most elegant so far.
I'm not worried about whether it's supported or not, because I never used the auto update anyway (and you can disalbe it in the services.msc). As long as you've got good secourity on there, it's okay and works well.

 

[johntea]

I work in IT so maybe slightly biased, but at the moment Windows 7 is best for the corporate side of things (i.e. my job!) and Windows 10 is great for the home side of things

Going forward if you buy a new laptop / PC you will find it harder and harder to even be able to install Windows 7 anyway so might as well get used to Windows 10 as early as possible!

Although I've just started a new job at the NHS starting next month which will be interesting as I'm dreading the amount of legacy XP and potentially older systems they'll have in place!

 

[bramling]

...and you had a choice of operating system, assuming they were all supported; which would you choose, and why?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I've chosen XP but 7 would be fine. Just such a simple, uncluttered system and easy to see what's in your files and folders eg. pictures. Also much of the software developed at that time won't run on 7 or 10.

Against 10 is those horrid tiles, and the difficulty of navigating around, setting it up as you like. and the confusing interface when dealing with files. For 10 is it does seem faster, and the apps are useful such as Cricinfo where you can, eventually, get a full screen scoreboard!

I've got a desktop running Windows 8 and a laptop running Windows 10. Have to say I prefer Windows 8 - just seems that little bit more stable. Quite like Windows 7 too.

 

[TheEdge]

I've never understood the hate for 10, I've got it and like it. It's perfectly possible to never see the silly tile layout (and always has been) and found it to stable and user friendly

 

[SpacePhoenix]

I've only recently upgraded a Win7 machine to Win8, and the only reason I bothered to do so was because all support for Win7 ends very soon.

I've still got my Win98 disc somewhere, I'll probably look into using it to set up a virtual machine to play older games. Some games like Star Trek Armada will refuse to work if you've got too much RAM

 

[507021]

I'd have to go for Windows 10, although I did like 7 as well.

I wasn't keen on 8.1, having used it for just over a year. Good OS for a touch screen device, not so good a laptop or desktop.

 

[RochdalePioneers]

Had enough of Windows 10. Ordered a new Chromebook...

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[Kite159]

Anybody remember the Acorn OS from the 90s?

I prefer Windows 10 on my home laptop