Which operating system do you guys recommend?

[ChereEastland]

I've always been using Windows as my main os, but to be honest I don't like it too much. Though there could be a lot of problems with Windows, There will always be a lot of problem decisions easily found in google because of big userbase, thus I recommend Win for not very experienced users.

[x4000]

What version of Windows 10 are you guys looking at? On my Surface Pro 4 (Windows 10 Pro), I don't see any ads on the File Explorer, or any of the apps I use. That might be because I have OneDrive and all that through my second job and school, though.

Mostly since the creators update.  But if you already have skype and onedrive and office 365, it won't advertise to you much.  When you use edge as your "chrome or firefox retrieval software" as it was intended, though, it inserts some ads for edge right in the google search results talking about how much better edge is for battery life.

[Mánagarmr]

Mostly since the creators update.  But if you already have skype and onedrive and office 365, it won't advertise to you much.  When you use edge as your "chrome or firefox retrieval software" as it was intended, though, it inserts some ads for edge right in the google search results talking about how much better edge is for battery life.

Now that *really* rubs me the wrong way.

[Draco18s]

What version of Windows 10 are you guys looking at? On my Surface Pro 4 (Windows 10 Pro), I don't see any ads on the File Explorer, or any of the apps I use. That might be because I have OneDrive and all that through my second job and school, though.

I'll admit that I haven't seen the ad on my work issued laptop, I've only read about it, and at the time it was not something that was showing for everyone, just a select few, kind of a market test that might go out to everyone. Even if it doesn't, the idea that they even considered it is a problem.

Also, if you already have OneDrive that might do it too: no point in telling you about the service, you already have it.

[ricardol]

Definitely the predominant sentiment I've heard in the past few months has been that Linux is more for people who are keen to learn coding and how to set it up, and that Windows is for more "lazy" people. I've been using Windows for the last 3 years, however I've had a few crashes and I really think I will switch in the next 3 weeks because of the greater flexibility and greater security. Reading this made me understand Linux, so maybe it'll help you guys.

[z99-_]

When you use edge as your "chrome or firefox retrieval software" as it was intended, though, it inserts some ads for edge right in the google search results talking about how much better edge is for battery life.

As an edge main myself, I feel it only fair to point out that every time I use chrome for certain apps that require it, I always get a message from google inviting me to make chrome my default browser. Worse yet, the "No Thanks" button link is now purple instead of blue (because I clicked it before), so they have a memory of me not being interested, yet they still keep showing it!

[Mánagarmr]

When you use edge as your "chrome or firefox retrieval software" as it was intended, though, it inserts some ads for edge right in the google search results talking about how much better edge is for battery life.

As an edge main myself, I feel it only fair to point out that every time I use chrome for certain apps that require it, I always get a message from google inviting me to make chrome my default browser. Worse yet, the "No Thanks" button link is now purple instead of blue (because I clicked it before), so they have a memory of me not being interested, yet they still keep showing it!

This is hardly unique for Chrome. Every single browser that is not set to be your default will, without fail, ask you every time you open it if you want to set it as your default. Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera etc.

[Aklyon]

When you use edge as your "chrome or firefox retrieval software" as it was intended, though, it inserts some ads for edge right in the google search results talking about how much better edge is for battery life.

As an edge main myself, I feel it only fair to point out that every time I use chrome for certain apps that require it, I always get a message from google inviting me to make chrome my default browser. Worse yet, the "No Thanks" button link is now purple instead of blue (because I clicked it before), so they have a memory of me not being interested, yet they still keep showing it!

This is hardly unique for Chrome. Every single browser that is not set to be your default will, without fail, ask you every time you open it if you want to set it as your default. Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera etc.

They also give you the option to disable that check.

[chemical_art]

Windows 7 fulfills my needs, and for at least the mid term future shall continue to do so.  Until I am unhappy with the system, I feel no need to change.

[carldong]

I can never stress my passion on Linux (or any open source systems, like FreeBSD) more. Most of the time, when I buy a game, I always check for Linux support, and no Linux support == no sell for you !

As a user who has built LFS multiple times... I find that I would be very tempted to hack (and break) my linux installations.

And then, I am equally tempted to hack my Windows installations, which creates a much bigger problem because basically fix = reinstallation.

Every time I use Linux desktops, (even KDE!), I marvel how much more responsive they are than the Windows 10 installation on the same computer. Yes, KDE 5 bleeding-edge does crash occasionally, and I do need some software that runs Windows-only, so I keep a copy of Windows 10 around, for emergency use. I ran on pure Windows 10 for a few months before, but there is the problem about auto-restarting after update that cannot be solved by any amount of Registry/Group Policy fiddling, and I gave up and wiped the drive and installed a Linux on a crazily complicated setup (Gentoo on bcache with RAID 10 cache plus btrfs spanning multiple volumes), which is... hard, but is also crazy fast and makes me feel better, anyways.

And Linux get a LOT more usable than when I got started at around 2010, especially after Adobe Flash finally fades out of Internet (yes, I can finally use it perfectly fine without installing Flash!). For new users, staying stable with Ubuntu/Fedora is quite good, and I actually think GNOME/KDE are much better than the Windows interface (and difference between command line is just like heaven and... the other place). If you don't miss Cortana, of course. It is more useful on tablets and phones, but probably less so on laptops and desktops, I guess.

[Mánagarmr]

As a user who has built LFS multiple times...

I still need to do this some time. I just need a spare computer

especially after Adobe Flash finally fades out of Internet (yes, I can finally use it perfectly fine without installing Flash!). For new users, staying stable with Ubuntu/Fedora is quite good, and I actually think GNOME/KDE are much better than the Windows interface (and difference between command line is just like heaven and... the other place). If you don't miss Cortana, of course. It is more useful on tablets and phones, but probably less so on laptops and desktops, I guess.

Thank god for the death of Flash. Flash was horrible and still is. There are still remnants of flash used on websites to this day, and it's awful.

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 ^^

[Misery]

I'm stuck with the diseased awfulness that is Windows 10, myself.  Hate it.

Windows 7 was much better..... sort of.   Okay, it was still garbage.  But it was FUNCTIONAL garbage, and it wasn't made of spyware or whatever.  10 is basically just a giant bag of cat turds that someone somehow turned into an operating system.  With a sledgehammer, probably, considering how stable it is.

Just... ugh.

I don't use Linux because 99% of the stuff on this machine wouldn't function with it.  Useless to me.  It's very unfortunate that M$ has the blasted monopoly that they do with this.  And of course I cant just go back to 7, because the dark overlords at Microsoft sucked it out of every conceivable store ever.  Not sure how they did that, but I assume that there were blood sacrifices involved. I've never been able to find it ANYWHERE, or I'd have downgraded the funky heck outta this machine without hesitation, followed by flinging confetti around the room.  Or just had it installed when this thing was built.  But nope, gotta have 10 instead.


Bah.  Honestly I just miss DOS.  It *only* did what you told it.  Nothing else.  I've never been able to completely get along with Windows or anything similar.  The idea of the bloody thing sitting there DOING stuff that I A: never told it to do, and B: probably don't want it to do (which sums up almost every conceivable Windows function), bothers me.

I at least haven't had to reformat this one yet.   Laptop is about to get that treatment though.

[Mánagarmr]

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.

[keith.lamothe]

On DOS, you did not manage memory. Memory managed you.

Oh, HIMEM.SYS, what did I ever do to you? EMM386, where did we go wrong?

Sorry, MSCDEX, yes, I'm removing you now that I've installed the game off CD, and now need the memory space you take up to actually run the thing!

[Mánagarmr]

On DOS, you did not manage memory. Memory managed you.

Oh, HIMEM.SYS, what did I ever do to you? EMM386, where did we go wrong?

Sorry, MSCDEX, yes, I'm removing you now that I've installed the game off CD, and now need the memory space you take up to actually run the thing!

This, in essence.