OS

[Shinso]

So I pretty much gave up on Windows after discovering the awesome world of Linux about 2 years ago. Paying for a closed source, propriety piece of bloatware that restricted me in every action I took started to get to me over the years, just didn't make sense after trying a free Linux distro (think it was Gentoo). I still have a Windows partition for coding Windows programs, but rarely boot it anymore. After Senjaru recently moved to the awesome side, I got thinking about how many people actually use it. So, here's a poll. What do you use?

I run Vista, but I REALLY wanna run Mac...

[Shinso]

I run Vista, but I REALLY wanna run Mac...

I've never been much of a Mac fan but wouldn't mind one simply because I'd like to be able to use them better. However, the price is totally ridiculous for the hardware so unless I suddenly become a millionaire, I will not be buying one.

Those evil pirates who I totally don't associate myself with, would suggest "Uphuck". I however don't, for I am on the side of good and think pirates are bad

I rum Vista and XP, but I'm planning to switch to Win 7

[Zepwich]

I'm running 7 on everything now. I will say its fantastic on netbooks with atom on them.

I'm running 7 on everything now. I will say its fantastic on netbooks with atom on them.

Windows 7 looks far too identical to Vista for my liking. It's almost as if it's an update rather than an evolution, y'know?

[Shinso]

Windows 7 looks far too identical to Vista for my liking. It's almost as if it's an update rather than an evolution, y'know?

You're right about it being more of an update. It uses the same (albeit refined) kernel as Vista uses rather than a new one. Saying that however, Microsoft did seem to put a lot of work into improving the performance issues of Vista. It uses less RAM for a start, boots faster, and if I remember correctly it has a smaller install footprint. It is definately better than Vista, but I can't help but also feel it's more like Vista 2. I think MS was pressed to release Vista quickly, which explains it's crappyness. Then, rather than write a new version, it looks like they just fixed Vista and made it would it should have been and released it as 7.

I feel sorry for all those people who paid for Vista, realised it was crap, and then had to pay to upgrade to Windows 7 when it came out. As you said, paying to upgrade.

Real operating systems are free use and upgrade. http://www.ubuntu.com/

I'd like mac or Linux, but I don't really know what the benefits of Linux are?

[Shinso]

I'd like mac or Linux, but I don't really know what the benefits of Linux are?

Lots my friend, lots!

- Stability. Linux is open source meaning anyone can contribute to the core (kernel) code and improve it.
- Security. Thousands of developers crawl through the source code of the GNU/Linux kernel and open source applications looking for vulns.
- Practically no malware. Linux does not allow potentially dangerous software to run unless you are root. This makes malware writing quite difficult compared to Windows, so it's not targeted nearly as much.
- Free. Linux is free for everyone, and so is pretty much all of the software.
- Diversity. Linux has been adapted to almost all tasks you can think of. There are thousands of different distributions for tons of different things. For example, for the new Linux user there is Ubuntu. For media enthusiasts there's Ubuntu Studio. For advanced power users there's Gentoo. There's a distribution for everyone!
- Freedom. Linux is free as in beer, and free as in freedom. Do whatever you like with it, chop and change it as you please.
- Speed. Unlike Windows, Linux does not slow down after time.

I highly advise you try a live CD of Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com). It'll make no changes to your system at all.

list needs windows 3.1