What's your favourite OS ever?

[JuanMena]

Simple question, simple thread. Seeing lots of TEMPERS coming up with names but not much after that.

My favourite OS ever is Windows 7, any will do as long as it's 7!
Next comes Windows XP and in third place Windows 10, which was good at the beginning, dare I say better than 7, until it started to get "updated" constantly.

What about you guys?

Any surprises besides Linux, Windows, Mac?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

All time favorite? That is a hard to answer question.
If I had to pick one it would be XP.

Longer answer:

• DOS 6.22/Win3.11 for childhood memories. Objectively not a very good OS, but... yeah. Childhood memories.
• Then there is Windows 98SE. No security model whatsoever (still DOS based). Excellent for gaming. Disc based DRM works without any problems.
• Only the NT series can be considered serious OS: My favorite is XP. It lasted for soooo long when including the registry hack for getting POS Ready/Embedded updates until 2019. Stable, fast, a lot smaller than newer Windows and also a good game loader for the newer stuff where 98SE is not enough.

After XP I went Linux for the most. Desktop computers under openSUSE since about 2006 and laptops mostly with Ubuntu (nowadays the flavor Mate). I'm used to Linux more than Windows but no version of a distribution will be stuck in my memories like the Microsoft operating systems mentioned above.

Old Windows may give nostalgic feelings but outside offline usage they are insecure and have to be avoided.

 

[lwiz]

For server/non game usage: FreeBSD. No DLL-hell if you compile software yourself. Designed and engineered, not random bits slapped together, so quite unlike Linux in that regard. Lightweight and everything is well documented.

Games, CAD, Video and other professional usage: Win 10, definitely.

 

[ILuvGames]

Probably Windows 10 with Windows 7 a close second, but Windows 2000 was nice to use for the brief time I got to use it.

 

[Dark_Ansem]

I guess 7 after Vista - as in, after the concentrated set of annoyances that was Vista

 

[mrgone]

All time favorite? That is a hard to answer question.
If I had to pick one it would be XP.

Longer answer:

• DOS 6.22/Win3.11 for childhood memories. Objectively not a very good OS, but... yeah. Childhood memories.
• Then there is Windows 98SE. No security model whatsoever (still DOS based). Excellent for gaming. Disc based DRM works without any problems.
• Only the NT series can be considered serious OS: My favorite is XP. It lasted for soooo long when including the registry hack for getting POS Ready/Embedded updates until 2019. Stable, fast, a lot smaller than newer Windows and also a good game loader for the newer stuff where 98SE is not enough.

After XP I went Linux for the most. Desktop computers under openSUSE since about 2006 and laptops mostly with Ubuntu (nowadays the flavor Mate). I'm used to Linux more than Windows but no version of a distribution will be stuck in my memories like the Microsoft operating systems mentioned above.

Old Windows may give nostalgic feelings but outside offline usage they are insecure and have to be avoided.

well said, especially the nostalgia parts!
if my XP box wouldn't have died in 2018, i would probably still use it.
If i had to choose a specific DOS: DR-DOS ftw!

 

[The Catboy]

Old 2, Solus and Chakra
Then Linux Mint and Fedora
Now somewhere between SteamOS and Bazzite

 

[Deleted member 301661]

Basic, like on the C64, it was the perfect OS.

 

[Skv0ra]

Symbian S60v3 - drained joking amount of battery, worked flawlessly enough to power business-grade phones of its era, allowed dual-boot into full damn Windows, and I can go on and freaking on.

 

[The_Dizzy_Vizzy]

MS-DOS. Reminds me fondly of Minecraft...

Post automatically merged: Mar 31, 2025

For server/non game usage: FreeBSD. No DLL-hell if you compile software yourself. Designed and engineered, not random bits slapped together, so quite unlike Linux in that regard. Lightweight and everything is well documented.

Games, CAD, Video and other professional usage: Win 10, definitely.

I don't compile software for myself, but I trust you w/ FreeBSD...

Post automatically merged: Mar 31, 2025

Symbian S60v3 - drained joking amount of battery, worked flawlessly enough to power business-grade phones of its era, allowed dual-boot into full damn Windows, and I can go on and freaking on.

Any OS that can also boot into Windows is impressive. I know Macs & iOS can do that, but I've never seen one that does. Must be impressive in and of itself, so long as it runs properly...

 

[Lostbhoy]

Definitely Basic on C64 for nostalgic reasons mainly... Done so much fun stuff with that in the 80s. Loved Windows Me when I got my first own bought with wages PC, still don't know why people hated it!

 

[tech3475]

Windows XP.

98SE was the first OS I really used as a kid and XP felt like a whole different level.

I used a modified version on a netbook and it was surprisingly practical e.g. running Photoshop for basic editing, felt allot nicer to use than my brother's W7 Starter equipped Netbook.

Only reason I moved on from XP for day to day use was because I had to for one reason or another e.g. driver support when I got a new laptop in 08.

Next, maybe Amiga OS 3.1, especially modified installs which added a bunch of stuff like ClassicWB. Although this is more as a retro enthusiast and I have a soft spot/nostalgia for the A1200 as my brothers had one.

I just realised as well, Amiga OS are the only OSs I've ever paid full price for, most other OSs have been discounted one way or another e.g. student, included, free, etc. Granted this is from a retro perspective including Amiga Forever and OS 3.2.

 

[CMDreamer]

Without having to think about it too much: Fedora Linux.

 

[Flame]

for me, Linux Mint. it's stable and without Ubuntu madness.

Without having to think about it too much: Fedora Linux.

I always try to use Fedora Linux.. but something just feels off, and I don't understand why.

 

[SylverReZ]

I always try to use Fedora Linux.. but something just feels off, and I don't understand why.

The matter of fact that the taskbar is positioned at the top of the screen? I'm not having issues with Fedora Workstation so far. I'm quite comfortable with change.

 

[Flame]

The matter of fact that the taskbar is positioned at the top of the screen? I'm not having issues with Fedora Workstation so far. I'm quite comfortable with change.

I use GNOME with Linux Mint from time to time. I mean, it's very easy to edit and change how I want. I think it's because Ubuntu's executable file (.deb) is everywhere.

then even that's not the problem. just something I cant put my finger on.

 

[console]

My favorite Windows OS are Windows XP and Windows 7 for gaming. I still have Windows XP, 7, 10 and 11 right now from my few different computers.

About Linux. Linux Mint is my favorite all of times for everything like internet and retro PC gaming like old school gaming. It allow us to use Wine program to play any Windows PC games and Windows programs on Linux.

I never own Mac OS. Anyone know which best Mac operating system compare to Windows XP and 7? I don't know which these Apple OS are best and worst. Are Mac OS best for gaming or not? Anyone can tell me anytime.

 

[Fabax01]

Classic Mac OS (Well, as in from 7 onward) Still miss those little sounds when dragging stuff around.
What a superb interface. The switcher in the top right! Oh, and the draggable control strip!
I also enjoy the focus on one application at a time. Limitations breed creativity, and I always found auto hiding (showing only the outline of the windows for programs that are currently "not in control") pretty helpful.
C'mon, preemptive multitasking is overrated anyway OS X is just not the same.
---
Mobile? Well, I have a soft spot for the WinCE derivative Pocket PC platform... That, or palm os.
But Styletap let's you run palm sw on pocket pc so...

 

[CMDreamer]

for me, Linux Mint. it's stable and without Ubuntu madness.



I always try to use Fedora Linux.. but something just feels off, and I don't understand why.

Those were precisely my feelings when I tried to use Ubuntu. Despite all the comments stating that it was a breeze to use it, and it was -sort of-.

Fedora had a very steep learning curve for me as I never used another OS beside Winsucks. But after I learnt the basics, I just love Fedora. Before it I used Mandrake and it was a nice distro too.

 

[SylverReZ]

Simple question, simple thread. Seeing lots of TEMPERS coming up with names but not much after that.

Always has to be Windows XP which is my all-time favourite, if it wasn't for Microsoft discontinuing it. XP was my childhood and had so many fond memories and nostalgia.

The specs from the PC I used was that it had a Pentium 4, a Sound Blaster Live! sound card, not sure about the rest expect that it had XP Home Edition SP1 installed from the disc that came with the computer. It was an Acer machine but I cannot find the model unfortunately.