Which operating system do you guys recommend?

[carldong]

Funny also how Microsoft, with every new release of windows, just copies KDE wholesale. I find that amusing, but not necessarily bad. I like KDE, so if I can use the same interface when I have to use Windows, that's good for me ^^

Not "copying", but takes four times more memory with it. Although my slight complain about KDE is that it is wayyyy too colorful. Hurts my eyes.

If only I can circumvent that pesky reboot-after-update problem I would probably still be using it. If only I can get a copy of Questasim for Linux... Then I can abandon Windows all along (but then my license key is wasted. Damn sunk cost!)

BTW, I actually tried to use KVM/QEMU to do a GPU passthrough, and run a Windows under Linux VM, with full graphical power, with some level of success. Yes, you need two graphics cards, one for host, one for guest. Yes, you need two keyboards and mice if you don't want to accidentally exit the guest (which makes it feel like two computers installed in a single case). Yes, GPU performs excellently, though CPU is somewhat less ideal. So, unless a game has cheat-protection that doesn't allow VM run, it should mostly run natively on this set up.

Although, I found it terribly difficult to use because I don't have two mice/keyboards. and constantly have to switch monitor to move cursors between host and guest. And, added with the fact that QEMU doesn't have very good clipboard support, guest interaction is not very ideal either.

In conclusion, let's wait for the era of GPU Virtualization. Maybe then we can have truly parallel dual systems.

[Misery]

DOS was a clusterf%&¤ of it's own merit. Memory management was a complete PITA on DOS, requiring manual editing of system configuration files and reboots. It also (initially) had absolutely no memory protection so programs could happily invade eachother. That said, not a lot of programs could be run concurrently either.

If you truly miss DOS, just get Archlinux. It's a functional DOS

That said, I know your pain with being stuck in Windows-based software. I've been slowly wrestling myself free over the course of 10 years, but there's still a few programs I absolutely HAVE to have Windows for, as they will not run in a VM, nor in Wine and I've not found alternative software to adequately replace them.

See, I went through the entire DOS era having none of these problems, and I used those PCs just as much as I use my current one... was still a big PC gamer even in the really ancient days, back when CGA games were still a big thing (all of the possible palettes for that are burned permanently into my memory).  Every now and then I'd have to do something screwy to get a game to run, this is true. 

However.... when I found the right settings or whatever, IT JUST STAYED THAT WAY.   I didn't have to worry about it suddenly deciding to shove virtual knives up it's nose and run around making bird sounds instead of doing what I told it to.  Once it was set to do something, it was *really* set.  And then unless I changed something myself.... nothing got changed.  High end PCs performed like high end PCs, and they STAYED that way.  They didn't start to just randomly devolve into a gibbering mess over time like Windows does, because they were utterly without that capability.  Windows, however, makes it's own changes (usually stupid ones) whether I want it to or not.   Really, after way too much time with this sort of crap, I can see why some people actually go back to those ancient machines and take a real interest in them.  I've been considering getting an old 386/486 machine myself to mess with.  Or just fixing one of the 15 or so I have in a closet for no apparent reason.  Lots of good games from that era, it'd be worth it.   Wheras Windows can even screw THOSE up.  I'll say that my experiences with DOSBox are.... well, lots of facepalming.  Which is one reason why the idea of just getting an ancient PC set up instead is appealing lately.

The only thing I found really annoying in that era was the mice (well, once those became a thing, anyway).  You know.... ball mice.  I used to clean them out by taking out the ball, and stabbing the rollers with my car key over and over.  I'm glad I don't have to do THAT anymore.   That and install times of lengthy doom.  Well, I never minded that all that much though to be honest.  The ways that Windows makes me wait are sooooooo much more irritating. 

[Mánagarmr]

Well, DOS was hardly without it's problems and it certainly was a mess when it came to memory (mis)management, but I will absolutely agree that Windows is even more of a mess. What they gained in memory management (at least there IS protected memory now!) they lost in reliability.

[Cyborg]

I use Linux all day. I find it weird that the Linux culture is still getting enjoyment out of complaining about Windows, when a huge amount of Linux is clearly inspired by Windows. I can write pages and pages of why Linux sucks. But let's just do a few.

1) "It works on my distro!"
2) "You need a driver? Write it yourself, nub."
3) "I hate Windows, Microsoft is so dumb." *whistles while virtualizing Windows in Linux*
4) Compatibility hell. Windows users don't know how good they have it.
5) Automounter spellcasting.
6) Config file harassment.

Being a power user of Linux means spending more time trying to get the computer to do as you want than doing what you want. If you just want to get crap done and have it work, I still prefer Windows. And yes, I have been using Linux every day of my life for about 13 years. I can do the crazy crap, but it sucks, and I don't enjoy it. I prefer Windows, even with all the Microsoft bs that I am well aware of.

[Misery]

Well, DOS was hardly without it's problems and it certainly was a mess when it came to memory (mis)management, but I will absolutely agree that Windows is even more of a mess. What they gained in memory management (at least there IS protected memory now!) they lost in reliability.

At the very least it'd be nice if Windows as a whole would stop corroding over time.  I mean, each new iteration just makes it more awful than it already is.  And M$ gets away with it, because of course they do.

The fact that the horrid thing is capable of spraying ads is particularly terrible.   Just yet another problem added to an OS that basically is just one giant problem.

[chemical_art]

I wanted to necro this thread because over the summer I have started to dabble with the cryptocurrency market.

As someone who never used 10 before this adventure, I will say that setting up systems was simply a breeze. I love 7 to death and I still have a legacy hard drive for niche products with it. But for my 3 new computers I used 10. Compared to 7:
-They could read USB devices out of the package
-They started about 50% faster
-I don't have to find a driver for every little thing

These are features that are not particularly hard to overcome, but when trying to run 3 workstations time is literally money and I'd rather it just work out of the gate rather then every. hardware. change. requiring pulling out the ethernet cord for drivers. For basic tasks I am finding 10 more stable then 7 across the board.

Again, my legacy drive, which I use for pleasure rather then business, still uses 7. But that's as much because it has 5 years of drivers loaded into it and I am trying to keep the 10 drive "clean" for at least a little while.

[eRe4s3r]

It's also worth noting that W10 does in fact not fix the "driverstore" bloat... as I just discovered last evening.... cleaning a good 9gb of wasted space from my SSD from Nvidia drivers which thanks to GeForce Experience auto-updated and bloated the entire w10 install by a whopping 21gb altogether. (Installer2, GeForce Experience, Unpack directory, driver-store) ;/

So yeah, they (MS) really did not fix anything when it comes to W10, it still degrades over time ;/ But the situation with GPU drivers is imo totally unacceptable. Nvidia ships drivers that are unpacked 1.3gb PER version.

[chemical_art]

Yes I imagine that is a problem, but I wonder if that is just a part of the nature of the business. I don't feel like an operating system should dictate things such as that to programs. Not like they have the power to enforce it anyway. It would be nice if the vendors saved space, but driver upkeep goes under "maintenance" in a business and that never has been a strong suit for any business, not just in computers.

As for driverware bloat, that is a similar boat. I would imagine it would take some intrusive, resource intensive work to try to determine which drivers are no longer needed and that would result in minimal gains with plenty of cases of key drivers being deleted. Assuming the user doesn't just start downloading drivers outside the system, which is also almost inevitable.