What Operating System Do You Use?

[odeon]

Debian Sid, on the server and on a couple of laptops, including my dual-boot work laptop (that also boots to Win7 when need be). There's also a Virtualbox running Windows on more than one computer.

OS X on the one I'm typing this on.

And I'm pretty sure I still have a laptop with Ubuntu installed. Plus, I have a huge server thingy that still runs some Solaris variant if I boot it up, but it's too noisy so I tend not to.

Sounds like a lovely setup you've got going. Why, pray tell, do you ever have the need to boot into Win 7?  Have you found a legitimate lack of functionality or one of those... 'it's easier to dual-boot because I can get the functionality I need without going through fifteeen other steps' moments? Or something else?

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Would it be out of place to ask what other sorts of work you do? And if not, see question ----.

I totally don't think you're an idiot, I just had an urge to figure out if I could make an arrow point to the question. It didn't fail miserably.

The dual boot is because I frequently work with Windows-only products and Windows-based customers, and Virtualbox doesn't handle everything. I've found it severely lacking if I need to run dual screens. Take something like PowerPoint--if you try to do presentation mode in Virtualbox, you are out of luck.

It's great when testing, though. I love how I can simply go back to a previous configuration.

But when writing code or doing general development, I tend to boot into Debian. It's home for me and my favourite software works there, too.

I'm an XML guy, an expert on structured information, especially document-centric XML (and SGML, if you happen to know what that is, but most people don't). I do information analysis and schema design, all kinds of transformations (using XSL), and a bunch of other XML-related stuff. For this not in the know, yes, it's something to do with computers.

It's a great career choice for a spazz because there is logic and structure and a kind of creative predictability to it.

[Skelth]

I like OS X but it reminds me of Ubuntu sometimes. The kind of OS that wants to do everything for you, the kind that sort of dumbs you down.

But OS X is clever because the user-friendliness mostly surpasses the alternatives. IMHO, something like Debian is a better OS but nowhere near as easy to use, regardless of your previous experience.

I would agree that Debian is more difficult to use in general, but I am not a fan of OS X. I am not a fan of Apple/Mac in general. I don't agree with their business model or how they treat their customers. I also, as a general statement, just don't like how it functions.

Ubuntu is fun to mess around with on occasion, and a great intro to new Linux users to see if they can muster switching from one of the big two, or big three as it were these days (Mac, Windows, Android.)

I think #!, if it installs properly and with no strange hardware issues (which are of course bound to happen with any distro) is user-friendly enough for new users who only require very basic functionality. I'm talking office software, web browser, media player, which seems to be the gist of what most people use these days.  I've let a couple people use it who otherwise have no Linux experience, and little otherwise technical experience, with little issue.

It comes with a script on startup that asks very simple 'do you need this functionality? y/n' questions which I think was brilliant considering it runs openbox, with which a surprising number of people are still unfamiliar.

Plus it's got all the commands on the side to help new users, though it doesn't explain what a super key is, which new users find confusing.

I sound like a bloody spokesperson. xD

[Icequeen]

Windows 7 & XP.

Last full Linux box I had was running Mandrake...unfortunately the power supply fried in it 3 weeks after I loaded it on.

Been meaning to do something with my old Thinkpad r61e running Vista, or fixing one of the T43's in the basement, they would work nicely I do believe. 

Time not enough of it anymore.

[MLA]

windows 8

[odeon]

I would agree that Debian is more difficult to use in general, but I am not a fan of OS X. I am not a fan of Apple/Mac in general. I don't agree with their business model or how they treat their customers. I also, as a general statement, just don't like how it functions.

/shrugs

They are treating me OK and I don't have a problem with how they make money. MS does it, Samsung does it, everyone does. Also, I can understand why they keep their OS and HW closed. Compare OS X to Debian with KDE or Gnome, doesn't matter which, and the fact is that it is because they have full control that they can offer what they do.

Debian isn't that controlled. The Gnome devs try to keep the tech stuff out of sight but they don't have the control, they can just hide things, which creates a somewhat annoying environment. KDE is more honest in that way, but OTOH, they were severely bitten by the Windows bug and for the longest time they had real problems with KDE4. Bloody things is just about usable now, in 4.7, but the experience is still more than a little schizophrenic. Don't get me wrong; I like it, I have used it for years, but sometimes the lack of integration gets on my nerves.

Compare it to Windows 7. The UI is far more refined but the underlying OS is still crappy. It still mixes user space and kernel space so a bloody screensaver can still crash the entire system. In Debian, the basic system is reasonably sound if you run Sid, but rock solid if you run stable.

/end rant

[Skelth]

I would agree that Debian is more difficult to use in general, but I am not a fan of OS X. I am not a fan of Apple/Mac in general. I don't agree with their business model or how they treat their customers. I also, as a general statement, just don't like how it functions.

/shrugs

They are treating me OK and I don't have a problem with how they make money. MS does it, Samsung does it, everyone does. Also, I can understand why they keep their OS and HW closed. Compare OS X to Debian with KDE or Gnome, doesn't matter which, and the fact is that it is because they have full control that they can offer what they do.

Debian isn't that controlled. The Gnome devs try to keep the tech stuff out of sight but they don't have the control, they can just hide things, which creates a somewhat annoying environment. KDE is more honest in that way, but OTOH, they were severely bitten by the Windows bug and for the longest time they had real problems with KDE4. Bloody things is just about usable now, in 4.7, but the experience is still more than a little schizophrenic. Don't get me wrong; I like it, I have used it for years, but sometimes the lack of integration gets on my nerves.

Compare it to Windows 7. The UI is far more refined but the underlying OS is still crappy. It still mixes user space and kernel space so a bloody screensaver can still crash the entire system. In Debian, the basic system is reasonably sound if you run Sid, but rock solid if you run stable.

/end rant

You make a valid point here. On a completely unrelated note, your music tastes are lovely too.

[odeon]

Thanks, mate.