Thought this might be a nice thread to have now that polls are a thing. Discuss your main operating system here, why you use it, why you dislike or like other O.S.sssss. Or just talk about it in general I dunno.
My current main OS is Windows 7. Until 2014 I used solely XP which ran slow, but at that time I got a new computer that was capable of running 7 so I switched. Recently I got Windows 10 Education for free thanks to my college, but I also kept messing with different Linux distributions to find one that I worked for me and I did. So I have a triple boot of 7, 10 and Linux Mint with the Cinnamon environment.
Since the end of support for Windows 7 is getting closer, I'd thought I'd ask what are all your opinions on each Operating System and, once support ends for 7, if you'd recommend me switch to 10, to Linux or just keep using 7 indefinitely (probably a bad idea).
The rest of the post is reserved mostly for my opinions on these. Read only if you want to.
Windows XP: I have a lot of nostalgia for it, nostalgia I don't have for either 95, 98 or ME. It's incredibly basic nowadays that I'm used to 7's default programs. Luna is kinda neat but I still prefer to use it with custom themes. I remember using a variant of Watercolor for a long time, but an easy one to install is either Royale or Royale Noir. You can clearly notice the lack of the Ribbon UI on Microsoft's own programs, something that I'm a bit too used to due to 7's UI. That said, it's clear that it's obslete in 2019. Trying to even download something using IE6 is nearly impossible, and Android devices are not recognized by default, neither is exFAT or most other modern hardware.
Windows 7: I've been enjoying my time on it quite a bit. There are some nags I have about it, for example the "libraries" are stupid in my opinion and I'd prefer just have stuff point directly to my user folder, but overall it's nice and complete. Also, Aero is pretty and looks really good. Plus, it's also been surprisingly stable. Almost all crashes it had were from hardware issues, I've barely run into any random nonsense crashes.
Linux Mint with Cinnamon: Because it follows Debian's code, most command-line stuff works exactly as you'd think so no surprises there (thankfully). It's also a lot more beginner-friendly and compared to Debian, which is good for me because I'm a noob at Linux. There's also a lot of settings that you can toggle just by browsing the control panel, and the rest just need a few packages or a few edits on the config files themselves, nothing too complicated. Overall, I've been digging it. It's a little bit disappointing how I keep getting stuck using old versions of software such as GIMP, but it was nice that I was able to get Steam and Discord and Thunderbird running.
Windows 10: oh dear lord what did they do to you windows. Okay, I'll get all complaints out of the way first: I hate Metro and I think it's ugly. It's nice that it has a dark theme now, but it's still ugly. I like flat colors, but Metro takes it too far. I'm using a desktop computer, not a phone! Another thing, why are there so many freaking privacy options? Why does Microsoft need to collect all this data all of a sudden? And why do you need to edit the Registry to disable Cortana? And why are some things available on the Settings app, but other are on the control panel, which is styled just like it was on Windows 7? What is this Frankenstein Monster of an O.S.? And don't even get me started on Windows Update.
With that out of the way, I like what they did on some aspects of the UI of Windows 10, such as the notification manager, the network manager, etc. They are a lot simpler now which makes it easier to change basic settings. It also boots up quite quickly, and I don't have any UEFI/quickboot trickery going on either, it's actually legit fast. I also liked how quickly it downloaded all the necessary drivers, I barely had to install anything and it just came with a bunch of stuff right off the bat. That's a huge convenience bonus that isn't there on Windows 7 or on Linux Mint.
My current main OS is Windows 7. Until 2014 I used solely XP which ran slow, but at that time I got a new computer that was capable of running 7 so I switched. Recently I got Windows 10 Education for free thanks to my college, but I also kept messing with different Linux distributions to find one that I worked for me and I did. So I have a triple boot of 7, 10 and Linux Mint with the Cinnamon environment.
Since the end of support for Windows 7 is getting closer, I'd thought I'd ask what are all your opinions on each Operating System and, once support ends for 7, if you'd recommend me switch to 10, to Linux or just keep using 7 indefinitely (probably a bad idea).
The rest of the post is reserved mostly for my opinions on these. Read only if you want to.
Windows XP: I have a lot of nostalgia for it, nostalgia I don't have for either 95, 98 or ME. It's incredibly basic nowadays that I'm used to 7's default programs. Luna is kinda neat but I still prefer to use it with custom themes. I remember using a variant of Watercolor for a long time, but an easy one to install is either Royale or Royale Noir. You can clearly notice the lack of the Ribbon UI on Microsoft's own programs, something that I'm a bit too used to due to 7's UI. That said, it's clear that it's obslete in 2019. Trying to even download something using IE6 is nearly impossible, and Android devices are not recognized by default, neither is exFAT or most other modern hardware.
Windows 7: I've been enjoying my time on it quite a bit. There are some nags I have about it, for example the "libraries" are stupid in my opinion and I'd prefer just have stuff point directly to my user folder, but overall it's nice and complete. Also, Aero is pretty and looks really good. Plus, it's also been surprisingly stable. Almost all crashes it had were from hardware issues, I've barely run into any random nonsense crashes.
Linux Mint with Cinnamon: Because it follows Debian's code, most command-line stuff works exactly as you'd think so no surprises there (thankfully). It's also a lot more beginner-friendly and compared to Debian, which is good for me because I'm a noob at Linux. There's also a lot of settings that you can toggle just by browsing the control panel, and the rest just need a few packages or a few edits on the config files themselves, nothing too complicated. Overall, I've been digging it. It's a little bit disappointing how I keep getting stuck using old versions of software such as GIMP, but it was nice that I was able to get Steam and Discord and Thunderbird running.
Windows 10: oh dear lord what did they do to you windows. Okay, I'll get all complaints out of the way first: I hate Metro and I think it's ugly. It's nice that it has a dark theme now, but it's still ugly. I like flat colors, but Metro takes it too far. I'm using a desktop computer, not a phone! Another thing, why are there so many freaking privacy options? Why does Microsoft need to collect all this data all of a sudden? And why do you need to edit the Registry to disable Cortana? And why are some things available on the Settings app, but other are on the control panel, which is styled just like it was on Windows 7? What is this Frankenstein Monster of an O.S.? And don't even get me started on Windows Update.
With that out of the way, I like what they did on some aspects of the UI of Windows 10, such as the notification manager, the network manager, etc. They are a lot simpler now which makes it easier to change basic settings. It also boots up quite quickly, and I don't have any UEFI/quickboot trickery going on either, it's actually legit fast. I also liked how quickly it downloaded all the necessary drivers, I barely had to install anything and it just came with a bunch of stuff right off the bat. That's a huge convenience bonus that isn't there on Windows 7 or on Linux Mint.