[GentleBender]

I hadn't even realized how many different current OS options there are right now. Other than XP and Snow Leopard all these Operating systems are still supported. Soon we will have another OS X 10.11 El Capitan in the mix. I am interested in what people are using and why. What are your thoughts? I am giving everyone a maximum of four votes due to the myriad of VM and dual boot options.

I run Windows 7, Windows 10, OS X 10.9, and OS X 10.10 on my current machines. I've had Windows 7 installed the longest and has been the best virtual machine ever on a Mac Pro (early 2009) 2x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Xeon 32GB Ram. Thanks in part to Parallels.

[GentleBender]

Not surprised that there are more Windows 7 than anything else. I upgraded my Surface 2 Pro from Windows 8 to 8.1 and still had to install Classicshell to make it tolerable. Then jumped into the Windows 10 Preview and never looked back.

[macrojack]

Shouldn't you have included IOS as an option? We use it on 4 devices at my house. I think that inclusion would bump the Apple numbers up considerably.

[GentleBender]

No doubt!  But you don't necessarily have a choice of OS on most mobile devices without a bunch of unsupported modifications. We have five iOS devices in our house, one is this iPad Air 2 that I use to do most everything at home.

[JohnR]

With mobile devices (and I just assume by default that includes tablets) there seems to be much less point to a poll on what OS you run, other than Android vs iOS vs Windows whatever. For most people, mobile devices are secondary and you just update the thing to keep it working/stop it annoying you.

[timind]

Recently bought a Chromebook and haven't touched the Windows machines since. Still use the Mac mini but only for music.

[ctviggen]

Not surprised that there are more Windows 7 than anything else. I upgraded my Surface 2 Pro from Windows 8 to 8.1 and still had to install Classicshell to make it tolerable. Then jumped into the Windows 10 Preview and never looked back.

I don't know what Microsoft was thinking with 8.1.  I just bought a laptop with it (to use for work), and I had no idea how to use it.  That's bad.  It took searching online and help from others just to be able to use it partly, and I still have no idea how to find executable files other than to search for them (what happens if you can't remember the name of a program you use once in a while?).   I plan on upgrading this computer to 10.  I have 4 other computers, all using windows 7.  I have a phone with microsoft, a phone with iOS, and two iPads.

[GentleBender]

ctviggen, If you plan on waiting a while before upgrading to Win 10, check out classicshell.net. Looks like it even supports Windows 10 now. It will give you back the functionality of the old  start button and more. I haven't tried on 10, but loved it on Win 8/8.1.

[ctviggen]

ctviggen, If you plan on waiting a while before upgrading to Win 10, check out classicshell.net. Looks like it even supports Windows 10 now. It will give you back the functionality of the old  start button and more. I haven't tried on 10, but loved it on Win 8/8.1.

Thank you.  I'll check that out. 

Another story about Windows 8.  My friend (who programs for a living and has multiple Linux machines in his house) went to buy a computer for his parents when Windows 8 came out.  He could not figure out how to use a Windows 8 machine.  So, they bought a Mac. 

[floodo1]

Still rocking windows 8.1 because I'm scared about MS tracking in windows 10. Otherwise I'd switch to 10 in a heartbeat1

[floodo1]

Thank you.  I'll check that out. 

Another story about Windows 8.  My friend (who programs for a living and has multiple Linux machines in his house) went to buy a computer for his parents when Windows 8 came out.  He could not figure out how to use a Windows 8 machine.  So, they bought a Mac.

sounds like some of my Apple using friends for sure. I always loved how OSX made certain basic tasks soooo easy. Like my mom could come over to my old Mac Mini and figure out how to do things in a way that she never could on a windows box.

Personally I dont think windows is that hard to use, but that's probably because I'm used to it for 20+ years now (-8

[GentleBender]

Still rocking windows 8.1 because I'm scared about MS tracking in windows 10. Otherwise I'd switch to 10 in a heartbeat1

Not saying privacy is not very important, but if you really want privacy you need to have a computer that is not connected to the internet ever. Whatever privacy we have left is slipping fast! Was that a drone passing my window? 

[tx2sturgis]

Back in the day...(5 years ago!)...most of us had one or maybe two devices...now we tend to have a mix.

I run RoboLinux on the home PC, Windows 7 on the laptop, Android 4+ (linux derivative) on the smartphone and tablet, Mac OS on the Mac, and iOS on the iPad.

So being asked what OS you use is sorta like being asked what do you eat for dinner?...it actually depends on what I'm doing, where I am, and whats available.

If you really want to 'geek out' check out the webtraffic stats like this one:

https://stats.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/squids/SquidReportOperatingSystems.htm

[srb]

Still rocking windows 8.1 because I'm scared about MS tracking in windows 10. Otherwise I'd switch to 10 in a heartbeat1

If you have disabled most of the data collection and tracking from the Windows 10 Privacy Settings (11 separate page/screens), I don't believe you are any more vulnerable than you are in Windows 8.  Your main tracking and privacy exposure will be from applications outside of the OS by browsers, websites, Flash, Java, etc. for either Windows version.

Of course disabling all of the Windows 10 tracking settings will also completely disable Cortana (Why can't Cortana say "Due to privacy settings being disabled, I won't be able to help you to the full extent of my capability, but will be glad to assist you and answer questions with a limited feature set"  ), but even without Cortana, Windows 10 appears to offer somewhat better organization, maintenance, tools and features than Windows 8.

Steve

[GentleBender]

Back in the day...(5 years ago!)...most of us had one or maybe two devices...now we tend to have a mix.

I run RoboLinux on the home PC, Windows 7 on the laptop, Android 4+ (linux derivative) on the smartphone and tablet, Mac OS on the Mac, and iOS on the iPad.

So being asked what OS you use is sorta like being asked what do you eat for dinner?...it actually depends on what I'm doing, where I am, and whats available.

If you really want to 'geek out' check out the webtraffic stats like this one:

https://stats.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/squids/SquidReportOperatingSystems.htm

True. I was just interested in what OS's people were still using and why. Some people hate change and refuse to update until either the computer dies or a feature is introduced they can't live without. I mostly use an iPad at home even though I have six computers.