Best Operating System

[Dazz]

Ok Enixidfrag, I'll give you that (just because I only ever played with an Atari 2600 lol) but does anyone here remember using the (possibly should ask if anyone is old enough LOL) ZX-SPECTRUM or SPECTRUM +2 or +3 or even Commodor 64 all fantastic machines I remember spending weeks programming it just to start the game and get 'Error at line 274620294' spend another 2 days finding and fixing the error only to get 'Error at line 274620295' the very next time you started it :hahano::hahano::hahano:

Great days!:biggrin:

 

[lee-pro]

I have to say, that many people don't really know why Windows crashes very often. In fact, I have been tinkering with lots of computers of different ages and found the actual reason.

The main factor that determines whether the computer is stable or not is the hardware's specs. If it is below the recommended, it will crash. It has a lot to do with the memory requirements. Many people says Vista crashes. Yes, but have you actually seen the amount of system it takes up? After complete standard boot-up, it eats up 40-50% of a 2GB RAM computer. In my opinion, you need about 15-20% at that stage to be stable.

Its more or less the same on XP, and even on Linux. Wait, I'll clarify the Linux part in a moment. If the system is eaten up, the memory management would have no error catching and so memory overflows into other sections and cause all that sort of errors.

Linux, does not crash in the same manner as Windows does. For one, it takes up very little RAM (Slackware takes 100MB or so). Secondly, it has a special memory quota. If X11's container is full, it would freeze because there is the same thing. But, it as I said, it is in a container. Press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace would kill X11 and resort to console mode, or reset X11.

That means more stability. No BSOD, or any thing like that. In fact if X11 crashes, or even the console (for example, BASH) crashes (actually, that happens only in single console mode), the kernel is still kicking alive and you can use SSH (Secure Shell) to login remotely and kill the hogging process. All other system services such as Apache (HTTP Server) still runs in the background with whatever remaining resources it can still use.

This is the kind of stability in Linux that I really like. Windows, however is closed source and so keeps everything in one. This makes it very bad since if one thing fails, everything fails. Its like all the components are chained together on a cliff.

EDIT:
"very little RAM (Slackware takes 100MB or so"
When X11 and KDE are running. Or else it can run extremely fine in 16 MB RAM. Minimum to get the console up is 8 MB.

 

[evilsnowman]

You are right about Vista being a very RAM-hugry OS,

After complete standard boot-up, it eats up 40-50% of a 2GB RAM computer.

I can confirm this: I've got Vista running with my browser opened up and when I check my memory usage it's on 49%. However, this still doesn't change the fact that it is my favourite operating system. It's more stable than XP and is more powerful in many ways (And I love the new look).

-evilsnowman

 

[lee-pro]

You are right about Vista being a very RAM-hungry OS,

I can confirm this: I've got Vista running with my browser opened up and when I check my memory usage it's on 49%. However, this still doesn't change the fact that it is my favorite operating system. It's more stable than XP and is more powerful in many ways (And I love the new look).

-evilsnowman

It is true that it is more stable, considering that Microsoft had more or less ramped up the kernel. But then if you think about it, that is 1GB of RAM already eaten up somewhere. Don't you think that this memory should be better used on the softwares itself rather than Vista's Areo which personally, is boring (Isometric projection? Come on, they can do better than that. Lazy programmers. Beryl uses a desktops-to-cube-sides projection which is cool and efficient.). The annoying thing is that being closed source, you cannot remove all that useless stuffs in the kernel. With all that, it results in longer boot-up time, more RAM eaten up, larger disk needed and processor pushed for more.

Not may people really see the point of something open source. When it is open source, you can be assured that if you don't like a part of it, you can modify it legally. The only limitations are your programming skills.

Just as that, the Linux kernel has a number of mods. One of my favourite ones are the -ck mods. It has all the Linux bare essentials and all extra stuffs removed. Optimised for desktop users. And as common sense tells you, Windows doesn't have such availability. It is illegal to change any part of the kernel.

 

[Chris73]

I would Say Windows XP Pro. I like Linux for it's low resource use. Mainly for Game Servers ect.

If you says windows Vista(MAC os rip off) since it's a microsoft bugged version of a mac OS then you need to learn your OS's LOL

 

[redlack]

XP if it ain't broke don't fix-it

 

[mildlyhotpeppers]

Although the original poster named a processor, I'm going to say my favorite OS in terms of appearance and integration is Mac OSX. In terms of compatibiblity, Windows would win, despite the takeovers of my computer attempted by Microsoft (automatic updates, anyone?). I'd like to try Linux, though. :biggrin: Especially Beryl.

 

[darkstang]

XP if it ain't broke don't fix-it

It was broke.
http://secunia.com/product/16/?task=advisories

 

[CFAlpha]

In my humble opinion, it depends on what you're doing. I haven't tried Windows Vista past a test install during a competition, where it was NOT working very well, but that was probably because it was set up at 3am after being awake for 20 hours. So I'm not really qualified to talk about Vista. XP, however, I've been using for several years now. I really like it for gaming and basic computer things, like writing papers, web browsing, IM, so on. I've rarely had a BSOD or any crash, In this most recent case, the computer's hardware is failing before the O/S (My Power supply fan is broken, and my hard drive is starting to fail). I rarely reboot my computer, I've left it running for months with no problems. Thus, if I had one computer only, and I had to choose what to put on it, I'd choose Windows XP.
However, I have 5 (4 are old free junk computers). So on the other 4, I've been experimenting with various flavors of linux. My first was Fedora core 3. It was okay, but since I was coming from WinXP for the first time, it was too different. For a while, I dropped linux. Then I helped my father install Ubuntu on a old PC to run his CNC machine, and I acquired the first of the free computers from friends and family, and so I messed around with Ubuntu for a while. It was nice, easy to use, but still wasn't what I was looking for. So then, During a competition called the Cyber Defense Competition, where different teams emulated a company server set-up, FTP, Web, Email, SSH, and DHCP. There, one of the advisers introduced me to CentOS, and I got hooked on it. Just the console, no GUI. So that's my current O/S on my "junk computers" that I use as a FTP server and occasionally a web server. For those who ask why I don't host my website on my own computers, I respond that my computers and expertise are not quite to that point yet.

 

[stealth_thunder]

Oh well, as you know Mac OS , Linux all these are for business usage, and there's many deeper technical for Linux. Mac OS softwares are so expensive..... that it will burn my pocket with a huge big hole.

Hence the only type of system is only Microsoft Windows XP, I have no plan to stick with Windows Vista, can escape from the buggy and troublesome User Access Control and other things which make it bloated so much. Windows XP is good, so wide variety of software that helps to keep the market and its price at a reasonable price.

 

[KenPaulio]

The Best OS MY OPINION:
Whats the best OS that I ever used? It has to be plain old Windows XP Home Edition.
The reason I choose it is because I have grown with it unlike the other OS's the main OS
I have ever liked and loved was MS XP. Vista, Mac, Linux , and other OS's there to complicated
sure the Mac is more user friendly and a lot safer, then who can't forget Vista it packaged with almost all new PC's / Laptops but yet its a resource hogger XP can handle more than the THE ADVANCED OS can do, Linux its the awesomeness OS mostly used for programmers, servers and now being used for many more reasons
education, even desktops pc's. But I have to choose XP Home Edition.

 

[verdurmen37]

Ubuntu is my favorite Iinux distribution.

Ubuntu 11.10 is here!

[h=2]Introducing the new and improved Ubuntu[/h]

 

[rolandr]

Is there such thing as "Best Operating System"?

I mean I prefer one over another for my preference but can't say one operating system is superior over another and I tried most => Windows (3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, Millennium, XP, Vista, Window 8), Mac (don't recall the versions since I was taking few media course), Many different UNIX systems when I was a student then Linux Red Hat and Ubuntu.