[Poll] What Operating System do you use

[WuddaWaste]

Mandrake! I remember Mandrake! I tried that too... and I don't remember to what level of success it worked. There was around a year or so of my life where I was perpetually installing/reinstalling different Linux distributions. Mandrake surely was one of them.

I also went through a Windows-skinning phase, where I installed LiteStep on my family's computer and left it that way for months/years. In hindsight, I'm surprised they didn't all kill me for doing it.

I actually need to run a slightly OLDER version of MS Internet Explorer for work purposes. You guys have given me the itch to try again. So many things to tinker with, such little time.

[linr76]

seems like we got a nice discussion going on here - keep it coming!

[WuddaWaste]

I guess another point of confession (and per usual, my long ramble).

Background: When I was 16, I was a certified computer technician. Back in those days, building a computer was cheaper than buying one and it wasn't necessarily the norm. Fast forward 10 years later, and that was definitely NOT the case anymore. Every nerd everywhere was building their own computer and spending WAY too much money doing it.

For the past many years here, despite what those self-indulging nerds will tell you, buying pre-built computers with Windows pre-installed has been by far cheaper than building. Therefore, the past 3-4 computers I've purchased have just come with Windows installed. Had they not, I probably would have gone to Ubuntu long ago.

[vampirefo]

I guess another point of confession (and per usual, my long ramble).

Background: When I was 16, I was a certified computer technician. Back in those days, building a computer was cheaper than buying one and it wasn't necessarily the norm. Fast forward 10 years later, and that was definitely NOT the case anymore. Every nerd everywhere was building their own computer and spending WAY too much money doing it.

For the past many years here, despite what those self-indulging nerds will tell you, buying pre-built computers with Windows pre-installed has been by far cheaper than building. Therefore, the past 3-4 computers I've purchased have just come with Windows installed. Had they not, I probably would have gone to Ubuntu long ago.

I buy barebone computers, no OS installed, well haven't bought one in sometime, But when I do buy computers, I buy barebone's. The computer I use is a quad core 8GB barebone computer.

Much easier to buy barebones, just tell builder what parts you want, they build it to your specs, choose your case and they will ship it to you.

[aus9]

WuddaWaste

buying pre-built computers with Windows pre-installed has been by far cheaper

I may be old school but have you noticed that when you buy your Windows PC they invariably do not come with a proper install disc any more?

Most of my MS mates find they are expected to make a recovery image.

Not sure if that resolves all issues tho. I read that if you make a number of Motherboard or other HW changes MS thinks you might be naughty and borks at recovery. Then you might have to pay for MS support. YMMV

I prefer my Linux live DVD/install DVD.

I backup my partitions with a Linux on USB stick that contains an imaging program similar to DriveImage but its for partitions called fsarchiver----which is much faster than partimage. I can have a recovery image put back on in about 5 minutes for 3G of data.

(That assumes you don't use a big graphical system like KDE/Gnome etc------Linux trivia)

I think Acronis provides a decent imager that I have used for my bro's Vista.....but he has to buy a new version for W7

cheers

[WuddaWaste]

@aus9 : You are correct. These computers don't come with a Windows install disc. I believe they have all the install disc data stored on a separate logical partition on the hard drive (mixed with the manufacturer's bloatware as well).

Back in the days of Windows 98, wiping the hard drive and reloading the OS was just part of standard computer maintenance (as well as rebooting the computer multiple times throughout the day). After Windows-NT 4.0, I don't think I've ever had to reload the operating system so it has been a non-issue for me. If this were the case and I ultimately had to buy discs/licenses again from Microsoft, I'd surely move over to Linux.

I think of desktop computers these days similar to how I think of bananas. They're cheap and have a short shelf-life, so only buy what I need and replace them when necessary.

Solid example: my current desktop. I bought in 2012 for ~$470 USD. It has a 6-core 3.5 GHz processor, 10 GB of RAM, USB 3.0, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc. Not bad for 2012. It came pre-installed with Windows 7. I only use it once every 2 weeks or so. Mostly web surfing, a tiny bit of audio recording/processing. The computer still does everything I need with plenty of power and storage to spare. Rather than upgrading the system, I'll probably just replace it around 2018 or so with another cheap box.

I actually think that Microsoft and the computer manufactures are subsidizing the cost of hardware in order to put their software on it.

[BladeShadow]

I work on Windows, but on servers I only use Linux. It is much more efficient when serving pages and in handling databases.