 I've often wondered. Please boost. What is your preferred Operating System? This will run for 30 days. Please vote and boost. Anonymous poll
Poll
Linux
2,291
67.5%
Mac
774
22.8%
Microsoft
3,394 people voted. 329
9.7%
Voting ended 22 September at 23:46. 158 comments
@bob you just helped me realize I have far, far too many computing machines in my life. Also that my adhd isn't being controlled very well at the moment. :thonking: ๐ I ran a computer shop for 12 years. Now, I maintain about 10 servers with about 5 Internet access on a laptop and a desktop computers. For me, saying that I have to many is like saying I drink to much coffee ROFL.  @bob There is no such thing as drinking "too much" coffee. It's like "breathing too much". @bob @ianto_jones preferred and used are two different questions. ๐ I've answered based on what I use to make a living. Thanks. I've been here for almost 2 years and have never seen anyone ask it so, I was playing around with the poll system ๐  I object to the word "preferred". I *use* Microsoft because I am useless on the others but in no way does this make it preferred. @bob I selected Linux. Debian/Gnome is by far my favourite combo when it comes to just general usage. But I have to run Windows for a lot of things that simply aren't available, like games I want to play and some things I need for work. For this I've been using Windows Server 2022. It runs the Windows stuff but without the clutter and spyware BS of their consumer OSes. @bob @caity eternal Every OS Sucks song is eternal. Every computer since the abacus - just a bunch of crap  @petelawler @bob @caity @jstatepost @petelawler @caity What is the name of it? It sounds like something I want to see ๐ @bob @petelawler @caity @bob Linux for servers, Mac for work (coding), Windows for home (games, WSL for coding). Voted Windows because at a pinch I can use it for everything. It would be a stretch to say I "prefer" it though, I just use it. Wow, I have a lot keeping track of the services we run, my hat is off to you ๐ @bob I dislike Microsoft but I lack the necessary technical skills (or energy, tbh) to change from Windows to Linux.   The OS I use is different from my preference outside of other constraints. How are you using "preference" here? The one we use most, or, the one we'd like to use most?   My preferred os is Linux mint but I use Microsoft. Mint just doesn't run stuff like the affinity products. And I cannot be bothered to be fiddling with Wine to get stuff to work. I do use Libre Office and other open source programs over proprietary software when at all possible. What I wanted to say is that I didn't vote cause what I do use and what I would like to use are two different things.  @bob back in the day when I had a preferred OS it would've been CP/M.   @bob It's not exactly that I "prefer" Microsoft, it's just the cheapest and easiest option. Also it's what the college where I used to teach IT had on the computers. It made sense to use the same OS as I was teaching.   @bob In my case, I prefer Linux (it's the sole OS on two of my three PCs), but for practical considerations I run Windows on my primary computer. I'm well aware of FOSS applications (many are terrific), but there aren't always good alternatives. Sometimes there aren't any for niche software (Garmin Express, Fujifilm X RAW Studio, etc). @bob I think it's fair to suggest that more than an average proportion of #Fediverse users will be using Linux.  @thelovebug @bob I have no idea if it's true, but perhaps Linux users are more inclined to vote in polls like this? @thelovebug @jarulf @bob And likely that a higher relative proportion of Linux users recognise the term "operating system" at all.    @bob @bob I interpreted this as "which OS is most likely to stay running for 30 days", which eliminated one of the choices immediately ๐ @bob   i don't prefer any i hate microsoft but i use microsoft the last apple product i bought was an apple IIe i haven't tried linux yet @bob yeah the results almostttt surprised me, except ive kind of been coming to the realization that mastodon users in general are a little bit tech-braver. meaning, the fediverse will always live on but will always be alternative. never dying, never in threat, but not popular lol. and hey, i dont mind that myself. My hope is enough people remember what it like before the corporate take over ๐ค ๐ I'm old. I ran a BBS back in the 90's. Oh, if only the simple days lasted ... ๐ ๐ Our group has a plan for a Tiny House village and we might not have Internet but we will have intrAnet ๐คฃ that is basically a private Internet where our group can do most things without the world wide web. @bob @bob would love to learn Linux but school only likes Microsoft so maybe after I finish I can dabble in it. Was just wondering generally but I didn't expect to open such a big can of worms ๐ @bob Had Galactic Civilizations, a native Office package, a PCTools analog. Excellent memory management: once my Word Processor hung, made a pot of coffee, came back to the office, and a dialog had opened asking if I wanted to recover data from a stopped process. Said "Yes," of course. Only lost two sentences @bob Good times, lack of driver support finally killed it  @bob can I vote for Linux even though every machine I've owned since 1998 is and was preloaded with Windows? After suffering the bloat of Windows 11, I'm done with this pain. It's time for new pain. ๐, every computer I've owned since 2000(?) came with Microsoft Windows and the first thing I did was NUKE IT with some Linux OS or another  More or less just playing with the poll system. I've tried it before but this one has exploded ๐ @bob reluctantly, it's still mac. i can't run a good daw on linux. but i still prefer linux when i want to write code, even though i'm just a proficient with mac. since jobs died though, apple has lost a step or two. @bob true, i do run my internet radio station on linux https://radio.antifadocket.com Oh hell yeah, we should do a webring of stations ๐ Note to self: stop coming up with more projects ๐   @bob Just scanning the first couple dozen replies, and I hafta cast my lot in with Team It Depends. Like, my least-favorite is Microsoft, but that's what I hafta use @ work, because work. The reality is that the tools we need to do our work simply don't exist on other platforms. And I like eating food. @bob i'll generalise: of the three choices offered, it's Linux, but more broadly than that it's anything sufficiently UNIX-y (which includes QNX). but i still retain soft spots for BeOS and RISC OS @bob Mac. It has the ability to run all my favourite Linux tools and has a stable basis. Over my lifetime I've nuked 30+ Linux installations. Being Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu, no matter which I can make the OS go boom by doing daily tasks. Never happened on OSX. @bob Windows at work due to a specific piรจce of software (which is also a special interest of mine), Linux for anything on which I have control. Especially my own PC. @bob I am sorry that I cannot vote. But at Work I use Windows and iOS on the iPhone. But on my private PC and Laptop runs Ubuntu. So I use all of them equally - but would prefer Linux at work, too ๐ @bob Preferred and using are two different things. I use Microsoft because a lot of games simply donโt exist on the Mac. But I feel that MacOS is far superior to Windows.  MidnightBSD, a FreeBSD fork that doesn't feel like I'm installing Slackware from 23 floppies.   @bob@beamship.mpaq.org Voted for Linux, but it really depends. For professional work I prefer MacOS - because of commercial support and basically no driver issues. Linux for my private stuff. Windows 10 was okay, but I wouldn't touch Windows 11 with a 10 foot pole if I have the choice. |
Gregory's Server
@bob no selection bias whatsoever.